HARLINGEN — The City of Primera has put in its request for special TxDOT funds to add sidewalks on Stuart Place Road to tie into Primera Park.
Primera City Administrator Javier Mendez submitted an application last week to the Harlingen-San Benito Metropolitan Planning Organization for approval of the city’s bid for $344,710 for TxDOT funding. After environmental studies, the project cost would be about $400,000, he said.
TxDOT in January called for proposals to fund municipal projects from its Transportation Alternative Set-Aside Program, which generally goes toward sidewalks and hike-and-bike trails.
“My intention is to build a five-foot concrete sidewalk along Stuart Place Road,” Mendez said. “On the west side it’ll go all the way up to Primera and then shift to the east side of Stuart Place and tie into our park.
“It’ll be another 1,000 feet on the east side,” he added.
Mendez said the sidewalk is needed at least partly due to, well, progress.
The new 128-unit Sunquest Apartments at 23850 Stuart Place Road are pretty much full, he said, and many of the residents access downtown Primera and the local elementary school by walking along the road.
The distance from the apartments to Wilson Elementary School is 0.7 miles, and it is 0.9 miles to the park.
Along Stuart Place Road, the shoulder of the street can best be described as nonexistent.
“The goal is to enhance pedestrian safety,” Mendez said. “Since the apartments were built, a lot of people have been walking in the street. It’ll provide safety for people who are walking and at the same time be safer for kids to walk to school.”
Mendez said the city also has received a half-million-dollar grant from the Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation to do a hike-and-bike trail from the city park north for 1.2 miles.
The TxDOT grant would help bring it all together, he said.
“So what we’re trying to do is tie in the sidewalks to the city park,” Mendez added. “We’re doing an expansion of the city park in a couple of months, and it will tie it in with a walking trail.
“In a couple of years, it’s going to be a totally different environment around here, a better environment,” he said. “This is all reflective of the commitment of the mayor and the commission.”
WHAT: New sidewalks
WHERE: Primera, Stuart Place Road
COST: Between $350,000 and $400,000
HOW: TxDOT Transportation Alternative Set-Aside funding
