RIO HONDO — Police Chief William Bilokury takes the Texas Department of Transportation detour every day to get to work.
Bilokury drives along Highway 77 from Harlingen and then catches Williams Road which takes him straight into Rio Hondo.
But not everyone is following the chief’s lead.
Several others each day have chosen a different route.
Drivers are using a quicker east-west route across the Arroyo Colorado available on Cemetery Road just 3.6 miles south of Rio Hondo.
It’s not the “official” route because TxDOT rules say a detour like this has to route traffic over a state highway.
The official detour went into affect after the Rio Hondo Lift Bridge closed for repairs on Sept. 26 to undergo a $12 million renovation project.
TxDot expects the renovations to the bridge will be complete by Dec. 2017.
In the meantime, people still have to get places.
Bilokury said he has been recommending drivers avoid the non TxDOT Cemetery Road and Williams Road intersection.
“That is not the TxDot detour,” Bilokury said. “Quit taking that road.”
Bilokury said that road is meant for locals to use to get into town.
It’s about a five-mile transit to get from one side of Rio Hondo to the other, officials say.
The mornings and late afternoons are the peak hours Cemetery Road is becoming congested.
“I know people are out there waiting 10 to 15 minutes easy,” Bilokury said about the Cemetery and Williams Road inter-section. “They are there for a considerable amount of time.”
He said the intersection is outside the jurisdiction of Rio Hondo police, but the county and state police are monitoring the area heavily.
Bilokury said there has been a significant increase in traffic citations at that intersection.
His main concern re-mains the difference in speed limits of those roads.
Williams Road is 60 mph and Cemetery Road is 30 mph.
He said there are a lot of traffic problems with the potential for extreme accidents at that intersection.
“It gets so congested with traffic we’re scared to go down that road,” said George Garcia, 67, a Rio Hondo resident.
He said he would rather drive through San Benito down Sam Houston even though it’s farther away from Harlingen.
Garcia said he lives within the city limits on the east side of the Rio Hondo Bridge so driving on Cemetery Road has not been necessary for him.
“It’s been used ever since they closed the Rio Hondo Bridge,” Garcia said. “Everybody is trying to beat each other.”
He said he has noticed more police monitoring the intersection heavily since the bridge closure.
“I have to think about driving that route because the traffic is too heavy,” said Garcia said. “The other day I almost hit somebody.”
Garcia said many of the drivers crossing through Cemetery Road are impatient or late to work, especially in the mornings.
Rio Hondo City Administrator Ben Medina said he has looked into the idea of putting a stop light at the Cemetery and Williams Road.
He said the road belongs to the county and the renovations to the bridge are not going to take long enough to warrant stop lights.
The Rio Hondo lift bridge is two of three still in operation in the U.S.
TxDot reported the Rio Hondo Bridge carried 6,000 vehicles a day before it shut down for repairs.
The closure has caused all kinds of problems for Rio Hondo.
Garcia said people from Willacy County are more than likely bypassing Rio Hondo downtown by traveling on FM 510 east to Port Isabel and South Padre Island.
“It’s affecting the businesses in Rio Hondo quite a bit,” Garcia said.
