Accidents, God forbid, do happen. What would happen if one of these tanker trucks had an accident in front of Canales School and burst into flames and spewed its toxic contents into the school when school is open next week? Or what if there was an emergency vehicle needed and the ambulance had to use the expressway to get there quickly? Would they be able to maneuver past the long line of waiting trucks?
It's been 23 years ago since an overwhelming majority of Cameron County voters approved a bond issue for transportation projects. After more than two decades of being promised an East Loop that would divert heavy (and hazardous ) truck traffic from International Boulevard Cameron County and the City of Brownsville are making noises about actually building it. Local residents remember that it was in 1993 that then-Cameron County Judge (and later U.S. Ambassador to Mexico) Tony Garza, included the project as part of Project Road Map, an ambitious undertaking to upgrade the county's thoroughfares.
Plans called for 74 separate projects throughout Cameron County. Among Project Road Map's more ambitious components was a plan to extend Expressway 77-Highway 83 past Lincoln Park to the proposed site of the Los Tomates International Bridge, what we now call Veterans International Bridge. It would also convert Highway 48 into a four-lane highway, and create a loop beginning on Elizabeth Street and stretching to the Port of Brownsville.
That last one is the so-called East Loop. Instead, the bridge at Los Indios got first priority as is the controversial West Loop Boulevard (or bike and hike trail). And the East Loop that was needed 23 years ago and is critical today to safeguard the lives and safety of the residents there?)