{"id":92470,"date":"2025-12-18T05:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/92470\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T05:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T05:36:09","slug":"businesses-residents-in-far-east-el-paso-relieved-to-see-pellicano-project-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/92470\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses, residents in far East El Paso relieved to see Pellicano project resume"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM<\/a>) \u2014 Businesses and residents in far East El Paso were relieved to finally see construction crews and movement at the site of the long-delayed Pellicano widening project after years of traffic nightmares. Construction had been stalled for over 3 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times, I felt like giving up. But right now? We\u2019re grinding. Knowing that the construction is going to be done soon, what\u2019s 10 months to 6 years?\u201d said Bryan Romero, the owner of Pepe\u2019s Barbershop located off of Pellicano Drive by the construction site.<\/p>\n

Romero said he opened up his shop eight years ago and had developed a good clientele base in the first two years before construction on Pellicano began. He is now hopeful he could return to that level of production.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that my business is good enough. To be visited by people and barbers that want to work here.\u00a0Because if it really is the construction that slowed my business down, I told one of my customers, \u2018Man, if things go well consistently for two years, what\u2019s stopping me from expanding to the rest of El Paso?\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been long overdue. The traffic here has been really terrible for a very long time. So, since I\u2019ve seen the construction crew out there, already working, it\u2019s been, very welcome sight. I\u2019m looking forward to the relief of all the traffic,\u201d said Jose Valenzuela, a resident in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big relief because it has been a hassle because it\u2019s just one lane both ways,\u201d said Estefania Villalobos, another resident in the area. \u201cI always tried taking shortcuts, other ways, because it does take a while to get out of Pellicano.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we previously reported, construction of Phase 1 \u2014 the westbound segment between Aircoupe and Loop 375 \u2014 of the project officially resumed under Hawk Construction last month, three years after construction halted.<\/p>\n

Phase 1 construction of delayed Pellicano project now underway <\/a><\/p>\n

The project came to a full stop back in 2023, after J.A.R. Construction, the original contractor, filed for bankruptcy and was unable to complete the project, making the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) negotiate an interlocal agreement with the County and a takeover agreement with the surety bond holder.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Dec. 17, El Paso County Commissioner Iliana Holguin and President of Hawk Construction Jorge Ojeda addressed the media at the now active construction site to provide a detailed update and timeline on the project.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe County decided that right now the most important thing was to get the road built, because we know what a horrible situation it has been for the residents and the businesses of this area,\u201d Holguin said. \u201cThe great thing is that the end date for this construction is one year after the contractor took over the project, which was Sept. 30. So by Sept. 30 of next year, the road is scheduled to be completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ojeda said that over the past couple of weeks, his crews focused on doing off-site work, including construction on the detention pond near the construction site and improving drainage.<\/p>\n

He said they also assessed the construction site to identify any issues that could cause delays down the line, and are now ready to begin construction of the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, we\u2019re on track. We actually had initially anticipated beginning construction work until the beginning of January, so we\u2019re about a couple of weeks ahead of schedule so far. So we\u2019re trying to take advantage of every little bit of time that we can,\u201d Ojeda said. \u201cWe feel like we addressed, or at least found most of the items that we can anticipate. You never know what may come down the road once you start digging and really looking underneath.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s cost so far has reached $26 million. $20 million was secured through a federal grant, and the other $6 million was provided by the County earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Holguin said that when Phases 1 and 2 of the project are finished, the County will be able to properly assess how much more funding the project will need to bring it to completion. She also said the legal battle with the original contractor is ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to seek reimbursement of those funds from the contractor\u2019s insurance company. That\u2019s why contractors are required to get sureties, to ensure that the road the work gets completed. So the bankruptcy proceedings are still going on. The county is going to seek to get all of our funds reimbursed to us.<\/p>\n

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) \u2014 Businesses and residents in far East El Paso were relieved to finally see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1494,138,140,139,43431],"class_list":["post-92470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-construction","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-pellicano"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}