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TxDOT district outlines multi‑year highway construction plan to ease Laredo congestion
Summary
Denise Garcia of the TxDOT Laredo district walked committee members through a portfolio of projects — Loop 20/IH‑69 ($344M, ~42% complete), SH‑84 (ahead of schedule), SH‑255 (71% complete, hot‑mix surface pending) and staged I‑35 widening and interchange work with lead dates into 2029–2032 — emphasizing right‑of‑way, utility relocation and phased construction.
Denise Garcia, identified in the meeting as the district director of transportation planning and development for the TxDOT Laredo District, gave an extended status update on congestion‑mitigation projects across the district.
Garcia said the Loop 20 (IH‑69) project is approximately 42% complete and has a construction estimate of $344,000,000. "That project is in the works; we're approximately 42% complete," she said, and noted more than $100,000,000 has already been paid to contractors.
She described SH‑84 as a relatively straightforward greenfield connection from Mines Road to I‑35 where the contractor is ahead of schedule and expected to finish earlier than contract completion. On SH‑255 she said the rehabilitation work is 71% complete and uses a hot‑mix surface designed to withstand heavy truck traffic; the final surface was still to be placed on the remaining segments.
On I‑35, Garcia outlined a staged build to widen six lanes in multiple letting dates. She said an interchange contract that will complete three direct connectors at I‑35 and Loop 20 was let in June with a three‑year contract (lead date to completion estimated in fall 2029) and that other I‑35 widening phases are planned into 2032, including flyovers and twin railroad overpasses to eliminate low‑clearance constraints.
Garcia discussed right‑of‑way acquisition, transmission‑line relocation challenges (which required creative construction sequencing), and the district's approach to minimizing property acquisition time by using the existing median where feasible. She said TxDOT is coordinating with the city and regional mobility partners for frontage‑road access points and future overpass locations.
Committee members asked about inspection access to active work zones, signalization plans on new corridors, pavement life cycles (Garcia said the asphalt design considers heavy axle loads and an expected life cycle around 8 years for the asphalt layers), and how project staging would affect local traffic. Garcia suggested producing a drone flight video of recently completed segments to give committee members visual perspective of progress and agreed to provide presentation materials by email.
She closed by noting longer‑range planning for an outer loop and continuing the conversion of major corridors like US‑83 to interstate standards (IH‑27) in phases, and confirmed engineering and environmental studies are funded even where construction dollars have not yet been secured.
