Port Isabel plans for truck route

Industrial growth is the name of the game in Port Isabel, and Subsea 7, the international company that spools pipe to transport oil and gas from wells in the Gulf of Mexico to land-based refineries, is leading the way.

Twenty eighteen-wheelers every day bring lengths of pipe to be welded into a length nearly a mile long to be laid on the floor of the sea. Those trucks pass the intersection of Highways 48 and 100 and proceed through some of the heaviest traffic in town to Port Road, where they turn to go down to Subsea 7 and deliver their loads.

On the way down Port Road they pass through more residential areas and the Laguna Madre Boys and Girls Club.

Other large trucks also enter and depart the port area by the same route, carrying loads in and out.

This, County Commissioner David Garza told Port Isabel city commissioners last week, is dangerous.

He envisions a new truck route that will turn off Highway 48 behind H-E-B and Wal-Mart, proceed past the water treatment plant, and connect with Port Road just before the fork in the road that routes traffic either to the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District office or to TexPack and Subsea 7.

"We want to move the heavy truck traffic away from the congested areas," he said.

Garza said the different entities involved in the project are Cameron County, the City of Port Isabel, the Cameron County Mobility Authority, and the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District.

He congratulated area leaders for having the foresight to bring a company here that immediately invested $45 million dollars to build a plant, to hire people, and to stimulate the economy.

Subsea 7 plans to cover the entire Gulf of Mexico out of this facility, he said.

When he saw this opportunity to come and work with the community to build that truck route, he knew it would provide a 2-1/2 mile corridor that is totally undeveloped, he said.

Development will happen along the new road, he explained, bringing still more jobs and prosperity to the area.

Garza listed the owners of the properties: The Navigation District, the Garcia family, the Laguna Madre Water District, Wal-Mart, and H-E-B. These last two have loading docks along the backsides of their stores, which could be serviced more efficiently from the new road, he said.

The Garcia family no longer has to contact scores of people before a deal can be made on their land; they have appointed one family member to represent the interests of all, he said. The water district and the navigation district are willing to participate in building the new route.

The navigation district has set aside $25,000 to help get started, he said. And although he had said earlier he was not asking for money, he did tell commissioners that a similar pledge from the city would be a big help.

"Anything we can do to get that truck traffic out of the main Highway 100 corridor would be helpful," he said.

The time frame, he said, would be established after the right-of-way issues are settled. "But we're talking about right away, using local money," he added. "We could be under construction within the next five or six months," he said.

Since no federal or state money will be used, only the normal environmental considerations apply, he explained. Money from federal and state sources, he said, could delay a project for up to ten years.

The next step, Garza said, is a meeting of all the involved parties to get the project under way.