Brownsville staff outline multi-year streets and drainage capital program, including Coffee Road phases and West Brownsville drainage work

Maribel Guerrero, director for engineering and public works, and Doro Garcia, assistant city manager, presented the City of Brownsville’s proposed five-year capital improvement program (CIP) for streets and drainage during a special work session on Aug. 28 in the City Commission Chambers.

Guerrero opened the presentation by warning commissioners that it would be lengthy: “This is gonna be a long presentation,” she said, and then described reconstruction projects, phased work on Coffee Road, sidewalk gaps, alley repairs and drainage investments. Garcia summarized the broader approach and emphasized savings from doing work in-house.

The presentation laid out proposed or in-progress full-reconstruction projects that staff said will add curb and gutter, drainage, utility upgrades, lighting and multimodal sidewalks or shared bike-pedestrian facilities. Staff identified the following as primary reconstruction projects discussed: Old Highway 77 (limits described as FM 802 / Ruben Torres Boulevard to Morrison Road), Wild Rose Lane (Honeydell to Korea), Old Alice Road (North Runnage Road to Ruben Torres Boulevard), Coffee Road (divided into Phase 1 from FM 802 to Paredes Line Road and Phase 2 from Paredes Line Road to Old Port Isabel Road), Dennett Road (Paredes Line Road to Queenswood) and East Fourteenth Street (Southmost Boulevard to International Boulevard).

Staff said Coffee Road will be built in two phases because of heavy traffic and the need for right-of-way acquisitions on the longer eastern segment. Coffee Road Phase 1 was estimated in the presentation at about $6,000,000 and Phase 2 at about $9,000,000; Old Alice Road and East Fourteenth were each cited at roughly $5,000,000; Dennett Road was cited at about $6,000,000. For several projects staff noted design percent-complete…