McAllen breaks ground on Bicentennial extension

McALLEN — City officials and contractors broke ground on the long-awaited extension of Bicentennial Boulevard on Wednesday, saying that the 2.2-mile extension from Nolana to Trenton Road will go a long way toward alleviating traffic congestion in the city.

Plans for the extension have been 15 years in the making and have faced several obstacles along the way. City officials now estimate the $5.2 million project should be finished by fall 2012.

“One of our biggest challenges here is mobility,” Mayor Richard Cortez said. “We are a long and narrow city, and getting people from north to south and south to north is very important.”

Cortez said that adding another major four-lane, north-south corridor to the existing Jackson, McColl and Ware roads and 10th and 23rd streets is a good start to addressing the city’s traffic problem.

The extension will be similar to Second Street, with two northbound and two southbound lanes and a hike-and-bike trail along the east side of the corridor, though final landscaping and beautification is not expected until 2012 because of budgetary concerns, City Commissioner Scott Crane said.

But unlike Second Street and other major north-south roadways, the Bicentennial extension will have limited access and traffic lights, Crane said, which will make it a much faster route. The only intersections will be at 4 mile line and Dove Avenue.

“Because it is limited access, it helps dissipate a lot of the apprehension neighborhood groups had early on when the project was first discussed about extra traffic perhaps facilitating extra crime,” Crane said. “None of that is going to be possible.”

The city engineering department designed the project, and an Edinburg company, IOC Co. LLC, was awarded the construction contract in November.

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Nick Pipitone covers McAllen, PSJA, the Mid-Valley and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.