EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Construction is moving along on the long-delayed Pellicano Drive widening project, a major East El Paso roadway that officials say should be completed by late next year after years of setbacks caused by a contractor bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
El Paso County Commissioner for Precinct 3 Iliana Holguin said the restart of construction marks a significant milestone for residents and businesses who have endured a partially completed road for years.<\/p>\n
The project was originally scheduled for completion in 2022, but work halted in 2023 when the original contractor filed for bankruptcy. <\/p>\n
Holguin said a decision from a bankruptcy court judge earlier this year allowed the contractor\u2019s insurance company to select a new firm to finish the work.<\/p>\n
Hawk Construction took over the project at the end of September and spent several months reviewing previous work and addressing drainage issues before restarting construction this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did a lot of the preliminary work, checking the work that was already done, making sure the drainage was correct and now they\u2019ve been able to actually start construction on the road,\u201d Holguin said.<\/p>\n
She said no major structural issues were discovered during the review, allowing the project to move forward without additional delays. <\/p>\n
The road is now scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30 of next year, one year after the new contractor assumed control.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on the retention ponds and drainage items and doing site investigations to make sure we don\u2019t interfere with the work that was done previously,\u201d Hawk Construction President Jorge Ojeda said. \u201cSo far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ojeda said the project is slightly ahead of schedule, with some work beginning earlier than initially anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to take advantage of every little bit of time that we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
County officials approved an additional $6 million in funding to account for increased labor and material costs caused by the multi-year delay. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe county did commit additional funding to be able to at least get the road finished, but we\u2019re going to seek reimbursement of those funds from the contractor\u2019s insurance company,\u201d Holguin said.<\/p>\n
The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority is managing the project, while El Paso County provided the federal funding and additional local funds needed to restart construction.<\/p>\n
Holguin said the focus is currently on completing the roadway itself, known as phase one. <\/p>\n
Phase two, which includes additional amenities originally planned for the project, remains under negotiation.<\/p>\n
She said the delays have been especially difficult for the rapidly growing East El Paso area, where commuters have faced long travel times and congestion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very important road for the East Side, which we know is the fastest growing part of the county,\u201d Holguin said. \u201cThe biggest frustration was not seeing anything happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ojeda said residents and businesses have responded positively now that work is visible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re happy because they\u2019re seeing that there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
County officials said residents will continue to receive regular updates through mailers and monthly reports as construction progresses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very glad to have a new contractor on board, and we\u2019re very confident that it will be finished in time,\u201d Holguin said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — Construction is moving along on the long-delayed Pellicano Drive widening project, a major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139],"class_list":["post-93690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93690","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=93690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}