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Second ‘spaghetti bowl’ approved for Eastside
By Ryan Poulos El Paso Inc. Austin Bureau
AUSTIN – Thanks to a quick distribution of federal stimulus dollars, a new ramp system that will connect Interstate 10 and Loop 375 could be constructed in as soon as two years.
Texas transportation officials last week approved the $146 million project that will build four ramps to help ease traffic on the Eastside. Some are calling the project the “second spaghetti bowl.”
According to transportation officials, the project that is mostly funded by stimulus money will create about 200 jobs in El Paso and should get underway as early as next spring.
El Paso was originally seeking money for all of the eight ramps that will be needed to complete the project at a cost of $260 million.
But for the smaller $146 million project, the city is contributing about $21 million of its own federal stimulus money and about $50 million more from property tax revenues.
The remaining $76 million, which was authorized by transportation officials last week, will come from the Transportation Department’s federal stimulus money.
In total, the federal stimulus money handed down for transportation will help finance 29 road projects in Texas for about $1.2 billion. Officials say the projects will generate up to 90,000 jobs in construction and all of the other related industries.
In El Paso on Friday, the Metropolitan Planning Organization approved a list of projects that will receive federal stimulus dollars pending federal approval.
It included $15 million thath will go toward the construction of the glory Road Transit Terminal, construction of bus shelters citywide and the construction of the Westside Transit Terminal.
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