Traveling up and down the city of McAllen just got easier with the debut of the final stretch of Bicentennial Boulevard.
City officials marked the completion of a project to extend Bicentennial Boulevard all the way up to the northern boundary of the city at State Highway 107 with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The final segment of the project unveiled Wednesday was a .9-mile section of the entire extension project which, in total, added 2.8 miles to Bicentennial Boulevard, starting at Trenton Road and running north.
Construction of the extension began in December 2019 but has been in the works for a lot longer, according to City Commissioner Joaquin “J.J.” Zamora.
“This has been a project, a concept, of over 18 to 20 years,” Zamora said Wednesday during a celebration of the finished project. “You have to go back to almost Mayor Leo Montalvo’s tenure then through Mayor Richard Cortez’s tenure, then of course Mayor Darling’s tenure and now, ultimately Mayor Villalobos.”
Because it’s spanned multiple administrations, Zamora said making it reality was a team effort.
“We all had parts of it, segments of Bicentennial Road built during various periods of each mayor’s term, and certainly it’s very important this final segment between Freddy and 107 gets completed,” Zamora said, referring to the third and last phase of the extension project.
The first phase of the project was a .4-mile stretch from Trenton to Auburn Avenue and phase two was a 1.5-mile segment from Auburn to Freddy Gonzalez Drive that opened in July.
Initially, the project would have added a stretch of two-lane roadway to Bicentennial but after securing additional funding, they were able to add the four-lane roadway that lies there now.
In the end, the project came out costing approximately $13 million for which the city provided $2.4 million from their 2013 bond election.
The city secured another $10.6 million from federal, state and other local sources, according to City Engineer Yvette Barrera.
“When we started with the bond project, it did start as a two-lane rural section so it wasn’t going to have curb and gutter and so we were going to have roadway swales throughout the section,” Barrera said. “However, the city was able to leverage federal and state funding by working with the (Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization) and the Texas Department of Transportation.”
The increase in funds also allowed for additional features along the road.
“This current limited-access Bicentennial Avenue includes the four lanes with a center turn lane at signalized intersections with Trenton, Auburn, Frontera, Northgate, Freddy and Sprague,” Barrera said. “It also includes curb and gutter and underground storm water drainage to the adjacent Morris Stormwater Regional Detention Facility.”
Barrera added there are also noise barriers to help reduce noise to subdivisions located along Bicentennial that may be caused by new traffic.
The new roadway is what’s called a “limited access facility” as there aren’t many driveways that lead into it and is designated for through traffic. The expectation is that the expanded Bicentennial will reduce traffic congestion along neighboring 10th and 23rd streets.
“Not only is it going to be an arterial for us to get north and south, but it really is a beautiful roadway,” said City Manager Roel “Roy Rodriguez. “It’s got beautiful curves, you’ve got natural brush, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and so I’m really, really excited today about this opportunity and I want to, once again, mention the importance of the MPO, TxDOT, (and) obviously our staff, in this project.”
