If your daily commute includes traveling down Boca Chica Boulevard to Owen Road near the Four Corners area, you are going to want to allow some extra drive time.
Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB) is installing a 16-inch waterline in the area that will include temporary lane closure from Reina Esther Drive to Owen Road.
According to BPUB, during construction, traffic has been reduced to one lane until work is complete. The project is expected to run through April 2023.
The temporary lane closure initially began at International Boulevard, but due to traffic stacking the area in Brownsville known as the Four Corners intersection, the lane closure was pushed back to Reina Esther Drive, said Ryan Greenfeld, communications and public relations manager for BPUB.
On Tuesday evening, a long line of vehicles including tractor-trailer rigs were at the Four Corners intersection waiting to travel down Boca Chica Boulevard to Owen Road.
Late Wednesday morning, traffic appeared to move rather quickly through the area.
As of Wednesday, Brownsville police had not received any extra calls regarding traffic congestion in and around the area, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.
“For right now, we are just actually letting traffic flow the way it does, but if it does create a big congestion. There will be some traffic enforcement out there, officers trying to alleviate traffic. I know it’s a hassle, it’s a pain for motorists, but sometimes repairs need to be done,” Sandoval said.
Although motorists waiting in line to drive through the area may start to become impatient and want to honk their vehicle’s horn, doing this could get them a citation, Sandoval said.
“The horn is not for telling people to move or to hurry up. The horn is for advising people of an emergency situation, as if somebody is backing up and they don’t see you. You honk your horn so they can see you and avoid a collision. That is what that horn is for,” Sandoval said. “It’s not for telling people, ‘Hey the light turned green or get out of my way.’ That is not what the horn is for.”
Earlier this year, a Brownsville truck driver was cited for honking the truck’s horn as a Brownsville police officer conducted a traffic stop. The truck driver believed the officer was taking up the roadway during the traffic stop and honked his horn at the officer.
Meanwhile, the 16-inch waterline will act as a future waterline loop to BPUB’s 2-million-gallon elevated storage tank under construction at the intersection of Southmost Boulevard and East 30th Street, BPUB said.
The new elevated storage tank will replace two older water tanks: the elevated storage tank demolished in 2018 formerly located on Southmost Boulevard and the elevated storage tank at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus.
UTRGV’s elevated storage tank is scheduled to be demolished once the new elevated storage tank is fully operational, BPUB said.
BPUB, Texas Department of Transportation and City of Brownsville departments coordinated on this effort to make it a safe and efficient operation.
BPUB apologizes for any inconveniences the closure may cause.
