The city of Edinburg is getting to work on another street renovation project, this time on the south side of the city.
Officials broke ground on their second street renovation project this month on Tuesday which will focus on expanding Alberta Road from the McAllen city limit to Highway 281.
“This is probably the fastest growing area in the entire city and the traffic that gets out here is just unbelievable,” said Mayor Richard Molina. “You’re backed up bumper to bumper in these areas because these roads used to be a bunch of open fields … and now we’ve moved a city into a farmland. That’s what’s happened here in Edinburg.”
The approximately $3 million project will turn the two-lane road into a four-lane road throughout three phases.
As part of the first phase, the reconstruction will begin at Hummer Lane and run west to the McAllen city limit at the canal between McColl Road and Cynthia Street.
The second phase will start on Hummer and run east to Sugar Road and then the third phase will run from Sugar Road to Highway 281.
Like the Schunior Street reconstruction project that broke ground earlier this month, the Alberta Road project is a result of the 2018 bond election during which voters approved $30 million for drainage and street projects.
“It is a very exciting time to be in the city of Edinburg,” said Mardoqueo Hinojosa, the city’s director of engineering. “A lot of construction is happening.”
Hinojosa added that the project will also include improvements to traffic lights and the addition of drainage features.
“There are 25 inlets that are part of the project,” he said. “There’s 5,500 feet of stormlines that are getting installed just to make sure that our project can drain.”
Work on the project will begin on Dec. 6 and it is expected to be completed in September 2022.
Until then, Hinojosa said residents should expect traffic delays.
“We will only be allowing, in certain areas, only local traffic, so we will have detours with our contractor and we ask for all drivers to be patient with them,” Hinojosa said. “We’re trying to get this done as soon as we can.”
