WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE IMPROVEMENTS TO BOCA CHICA BOULEVARD?

 

Boca Chica Boulevard

It was just over two years ago, at a meeting of the Brownsville's Metropolitan Planning Organization, that I learned about the project to add a median to Boca Chica Boulevard.

The implementation of the project in the last few months has made travel down Boca Chica a risky and sometimes time-consuming endeavor.  

As individual parts of the median are under construction, traffic is rerouted, swerving around traffic cones to the left or right, sometimes turning the boulevard into an ultra-narrow, scary two lane.

In Facebook conversation today, Commissioner Jessica Tetreau and others noted that Boca Chica Boulevard is part of the city's hurricane escape route and wondered about the wisdom of doing this particular roadwork during hurricane season.

MPO Director Mark Lund

One personal observation is that MPO Director Mark Lund decided that it would be unwise to allow a left hand turn off Boca Chica Blvd. into H.E.B., forcing drivers wanting to access the supermarket to pass H.E.B., turning left at Paredes Line Road, then left again on the west side entrance to H.E.B.'s parking lot.

But drivers, myself included, have figured out a faster way of getting to Boca Chica H.E.B.

We cross the median, just past the U-Haul Center, making a u-turn to enter the west side of that parking area, then drive past the dollar store and U-Haul to get to H.E.B.

U-Haul has countered with numerous speed bumps to slow the traffic, but that seems to be the pathway of choice for those approaching H.E.B. from the east.  

I'm certain even Mark Lund would admit that traffic control and highway design is an imperfect science.