(The Valley Morning Star posted the following story by Fernando Del Valle on its website on October 21.)
HARLINGEN, Texas — Two federal lawmakers will ask Congress to earmark $800,000 to pay for an environmental study needed for a plan to reroute railroad tracks outside the city limits, officials said Monday.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, will push to fund a $1 million environmental impact study needed to launch the proposed $60 million project.
“Removing rails that run through cities is an environmental and safety issue that I have long championed,” Ortiz said in a press release.
“I have been working, and talking to, local leaders who have identified this as an important component for the Harlingen economic development.”
Last year, Ortiz and Hutchison pushed to secure $200,000 in federal money to fund part of the cost of the environmental impact study.
Hutchison shares city officials’ “commitment to this project and will continue my efforts to provide the federal resources necessary for its completion,” she said in a press release.
The project would remove railroad tracks inside city limits, rerouting tracks around Harlingen and San Benito.
The project, which would require about $7 million in local funds, hinges on about $51 million in federal money.
In September, Harlingen voters approved $2.8 million in bonds that would fund the city’s share of the project to remove railroad tracks that carry an increasing number of trains that snarl traffic in the downtown area.
“Since the bond issue passed, we have been diligently working to fast-track the project,” Mayor Connie de la Garza said.
As part of a proposed interlocal agreement, Cameron County would pay $2.8 million while San Benito would chip in with $1.4 million.
But San Benito would be hard pressed to fund its share, City Manager Victor Trevino said.
“The city obviously supports the proposal, but obviously the city doesn’t have those kinds of funds,” he said. “We would have to find a way to fund that amount.”
Last year, Congress earmarked $200,000 to fund part of the proposed environmental impact study.
Lawmakers fell short of the local request for $1 million.
“The study will delineate an alignment for the future railroad tracks. It must show there is no significant environmental impact,” City Manager Roy Rodriguez said.
The city plans to reroute railroad tracks along a 150-foot electrical power easement, Rodriguez said.
City officials expect the proposed route would not pose an environmental impact that would hold back the project, he said.
“It’s already bare and there’s no development along there,” Rodriguez said of the proposed railroad route.
It would take 12 to 18 months to conduct the study, he said.
A second step would require about $51 million in federal money to fund the purchase of right-of-way land, the project’s design and construction of railroad tracks, Rodriguez said.
“This is going to be a long process,” he said of the project that could take six to 10 years to complete.
City officials have also proposed an alternative plan.
The back-up plan would move the Union Pacific Railroad?s switching yard from the Fair Park area to Olmito.
The project would cost $12.2 million.
Rail car switching accounts for 80 to 90 percent of backed up traffic, officials said.
The city would undertake the alternative plan on the condition that Harlingen?s share of $2.8 million would be credited to a future project that would remove railroad tracks outside the city limits, de la Garza said.
The switching yard’s relocation would eliminate rail car switching along tracks that cross Harrison, Tyler, Jackson and Van Buren avenues as well as Fair Park Boulevard and Wilson Road, officials said.
City officials expect the city and county would share 20 percent of the project?s cost, while federal money would pay for the remainder.
The project would not require an environmental impact study, Rodriguez said.