McALLEN — Funding for the full Hidalgo County loop is still up in the air, but the Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority is forging ahead with planning its eastern sections.

The board of directors for the mobility authority - an independent government agency charged with developing the loop - voted this week to expand planning for the project to Sections E and F in the eastern part of the county.

Those sections - which extend from the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge, currently still under construction, through Mercedes and around Edcouch - were left out of early environmental planning because of cost concerns for that portion of the project, said Dennis Burleson, the chairman of the mobility authority's board of directors.

But with U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, whose district contains the eastern part of Hidalgo County, indicating he would support the loop in any economic stimulus plan, Burleson said the board decided to include those sections in environmental planning.

"We're moving forward with the loop even though times are challenging," Burleson said. "We think that a stimulus package may help us secure enough to make the financing doable even in challenging times."

The mobility authority had initially declined to do environmental planning for the eastern portion of the loop because of its higher costs. Higher traffic was also expected along the loop through the western and center portions of the county.

But Hinojosa said the growing population in the Rio Grande Valley requires an investment in the full loop.

He indicated he and other Valley congressmen would push for the loop's inclusion in a national economic stimulus plan, which would require most of the planning for the loop to be finished.

He said costs were not an issue for the loop, which is expected to total about $1.6 billion.

"Can we afford it?" Hinojosa said. "We can't afford not to."

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.