Hidalgo County RMA outlines timeline, costs and funding for 365 Tollway loop

Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority officials updated the McAllen City Commission on Monday about construction progress, funding and a multi‑decade timeline for the 365 Toll Road and a proposed Hidalgo County loop.

The presentation, delivered by Ruben Alfaro, development engineer for the Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority, laid out completed work on Segment 3, current construction on Segments 1 and 2 and five strategic priorities for later phases. The RMA emphasized that major segments require environmental clearance and long‑term financing before construction can proceed.

The update matters because the 365 Toll Road is intended to move heavy commercial traffic around built‑up areas and to serve international bridges, an objective RMA leaders said will affect freight flow, regional development and future funding needs across Hidalgo County.

Alfaro described the project status in detail, noting Segment 3 was completed in November 2018 at a final cost reported in the presentation as $19,000,000 and that Segments 1 and 2 are under construction with an expected completion date of November 2025. "This project is currently in construction, and we expect to complete that project by November of this year," Alfaro said. He reported the contract for Segments 1 and 2 is about $295,000,000, the contract period was 1,264 days and the work was roughly 60% complete when the presentation slides were prepared.

RMA staff also reviewed longer‑range strategic priorities the authority listed as sections A through E (labeled on the RMA map shown to the commission). The single‑line items included: - Priority 1 (Section 4 on the slides) — an extension from Anzalduas International Bridge to Conway Avenue; noted as environmentally cleared but requiring an "environmental refresher," with an estimated construction cost listed as $91,000,000 and a projected letting in 2029 and completion in 2031. - Priority 2 — a corridor connecting Conway Avenue to I‑2 (described in the presentation as a $200,000,000 construction cost and $320,000,000 total development cost). - Additional priorities (including very large eastern and western legs) were presented with development cost estimates the RMA labeled in the hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars for full buildout.

RMA staff identified major funding streams. Pilar Lagina told commissioners the authority receives a county vehicle registration fee: "So right now, we receive the vehicle registration fees. So every year when you register your vehicle in Hidalgo County, there's a $20 fee that's tacked onto that. 10 of it goes to the Hidalgo County Road And Bridge, and then 10 of it comes to the mobility authority." She also said permit revenue from overweight/oversize permits generates roughly $8,000,000 a year in fees system‑wide and that about $2,000,000 of that comes to the RMA. On debt, RMA staff said the authority has issued approximately $300,000,000 in bonds backed by vehicle registration fee collections and toll revenue; they also reported receiving large TxDOT contributions, which were described as federal toll credits and direct TxDOT funding applied to specific projects (the presentation cited $155,000,000 in toll‑credit funding applied to the 365 Tollway and $238,000,000 for a separate project).

Commissioners asked about who can take over projects and how quickly the loop could be completed. An RMA representative said the authority holds statutory "primacy" over these projects and that, under the governing statute the RMA cited, the RMA may transfer projects to TxDOT but cannot transfer primacy or the projects directly to a county government. The authority characterized environmental clearance as the major hurdle: larger segments will require a Federal Highway Administration record of decision rather than a simpler categorical exclusion or environmental assessment, which lengthens the schedule and increases complexity.

RMA presenters described the overall plan as roughly a 40‑year program to create about 20 miles of expressway‑type facilities and said they consider the authority about 10 years into that timeframe. They offered to provide tours of the 365 Tollway and said the authority intends to return to McAllen with updates approximately every six months.

Discussion points recorded in the meeting included commissioners' requests for more detail on funding, timing and right‑of‑way acquisition; RMA staff responses on which segments are environmentally cleared or transferred to TxDOT; and RMA descriptions of land‑acquisition work they have already completed (including purchase and relocation of homes inside a right‑of‑way footprint, which the presentation said affected roughly 104 properties).

No formal action, motion or vote was taken by the McAllen City Commission during the presentation; the item was presented for information and discussion.

Next steps noted by RMA staff include pursuing environmental refreshers for cleared segments, advancing right‑of‑way acquisition and continuing design, procurement and construction on Segments 1 and 2. City staff said they will continue to evaluate possible collaboration with the county and with the RMA on acceleration options.

The RMA presentation and the commission's questions make clear the 365 Tollway remains a multi‑decade, multibillion‑dollar regional program that depends on environmental approvals, toll‑revenue and grant funding and ongoing coordination among local, state and federal agencies.