The key word in this announcement is "connectivity" as District Engineer Bob Bielek explained at a meeting with conservationists, State Park and wildlife officials yesterday. I was among those in attendance.
Backed up with research and experience, Bielek showed sensitivity for concerns about an animal corridor, a pathway for hikers and mountain bikers and safe access in and out of the Tom Mays Unit of the Franklin Mountains State Park. The plan met with positive reactions from those in attendance.
A huge concern resulting from the expansion of Transmountain has been the loss of ability to get from one side of the park to the next. Hikers and mountain bikers alike have been anxious to get the kind of connectivity that is needed for recreation and the expansion of such events as the international bike races sponsored by the Borderland Mountain Bike Association. Connectivity is also essential to the expansion of new eco-tourist businesses in the El Paso region.
Those concerned about wildlife have been calling for an animal corridor for years.
Finally, the need for safe entrance and egress from the park has been important for all who see the growth in park attendance, recreational programs and events such as the yearly Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta (which doubled attendance this year from last) and future chili cook-offs as preliminaries for Terlingua.
Impatience to see a plan has grown recently and even led to a quick acceptance of what was called Alternative 4 - a plan with interchanges and a shared animal and motorist corridor - something Bielek pointed out was a very bad idea. Besides, Alternative 4 would have required excessive excavation on the north side of the highway. What do preservationists/conservationists want? Well...preservation and conservation. Alternative 4 wasn't that nor was a new road into the park across critical archaeological areas.
Bielek is the man with the plan and here is a rough draft of that plan:
Bird's eye view of the project. Click image to enlarge.
The animal, hiker, mountain biker corridor. Click image to enlarge. Note deer.
The corridor will be for animals, hikers, pedestrians and mountain bikers only. No motorists and that change from Alternative 4 is most welcome. There will be fencing to channel larger mammals such as deer into the corridor and away from the highway. The corridor will be 10 feet in height and 40 to 50 feet wide. 15 feet will be dedicated to hikers, etc.
Access into the Tom Mays Unit. Click image to enlarge.
Bielek unequivocally said that there is no safety issue. He refuted the video posted twice at elpasonaturally. The video suggests that with a car coming every second almost, accidents will be unavoidable when turning left across two lanes of highway traffic. Bielek explained that traffic behaves just the way kids do in a kick ball game on the school play ground. They bunch together. People drive or come in "quantum" packages as they do when grabbing that extra six pack at 7-11s only to find numerous people have the same idea at the same time. Thus left turns into the park are safe for the foreseeable future. However, eliminating the left turn out of the park will decrease potential conflicts and thus is safer. "There is no question that permitting left turns from the park would be less safe than what is currently being constructed," District Engineer Bielek told me in an email. The turnaround for those exiting the park but wanting to go east on Transmountain will be the easternmost interchange with the Texas turnarounds - about a 2.5 mile "detour" - but a safe one to be sure and one that won't mean a costly interchange at the park.
TxDOT will provide the "brown" signs to indicate entrance to the park. Hopefully in time the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and/or the City of El Paso will create a more attractive way to welcome people to the park.
The creation of the corridor would be a separate project from the current TxDOT expansion and not a change order to the current project. Bielek anticipates finishing the expansion in April or May of 2014. Putting together final plans, demonstrating denial of access and the need for right of way for people (read "connectivity"), obtaining funding ($1 Million or less) and beginning the new project could start next fall and be done in early 2015.
Please make plans to come to the meeting on December 11th. Let TxDOT know that you want connectivity from one side of the park to the other.
More, of course, later
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