Construction on both the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses has caused students to make changes to their routes and routines in order to make it to classes on time.
“Construction around the Brownsville area has affected me by reducing parking capacity,” finance freshman Luis Salazar said. “Today, I had to get [up] way early to [get to] the university to be able to find a parking space … which wasn’t a success.”
Salazar is referring to the construction area for the new Center for Human Genetics building on the Brownville campus.
On the Edinburg campus, the construction affecting traffic is for improvements to Schunior Street.
Schunior Street, from Sugar Road to Nevarez Drive, was closed for construction beginning May 9 and remains closed.
“[The construction] just purely cuts off one way … which makes [traffic] back up for at least a good 30 minutes if you are just trying to get to one class,” mechanical engineering senior Forrce Orozco said. “Without [construction] it would probably take 10 or 15 [minutes].”
According to university officials, construction will last through the end of the year.
“I know that construction will continue for the rest of the semester,” said Rodney Gomez, executive director of UTRGV Parking and Transportation Services.
Abraham Hernandez, executive director of Campus Facilities Operations, said the end date for the Schunior Street construction would be later in the year.
“During my last conversation with the project manager, she informed me that the tentative completion date was mid to late December,” Hernandez said.
Asked if he was aware at the start of the project that it would shut down traffic around Schunior Street for the fall semester, he replied, “I was told that [construction] would be on and off, but I … cannot tell you if it has been or hasn’t been. I know that they are working on the middle of the road and while they are doing that, they are not going to open it up.”
Tomas Reyna, Edinburg assistant city manager said, “In our experience in a construction project it’s [best] to try to complete it as much as you can with a short minimum disruption. So, our ultimate goal is to try to complete that construction. … We do have to close those sections [of the road] at points of the time.”
This does not mean that construction is always ongoing or that it does not take the concerns of the public seriously.
“Currently, we do have the project on pause,” Reyna said. “We are listening to concerns that we have from residents around the university and university personnel themselves. [Construction] will resume sometime [the week of Sept. 26].”
He said while this construction may be inconvenient, it is necessary to undertake.
“We had issues with students crossing in inappropriate areas, causing a danger to themselves and to the motorists,” Reyna said. “That was the first and foremost reason why we are doing this project. We are going to do some landscaping … to help prevent some of those people that do cross Schunior, but do not cross that designated crosswalk.”
Hernandez also spoke of the benefits this project would have on UTRGV pedestrian traffic.
“One of the project’s [goals] was to install a sidewalk from Sugar [Road] to Nevarez [Drive],” he said. “… Some areas, we are missing sidewalks. We had students crossing all over the place and there were no sidewalks.”
Reyna admits that this project has had its share of issues.
“Because of [COVID-19], some of the lead times on materials were longer than we wanted or expected, but those have since been already addressed,” he said.
Reyna said there is still plenty of construction to be done.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “We still need to tear up all the roadway and repave it.”
Asked about a sign on Schunior Street that says construction will be finished by Sept. 30, Reyna replied, “That construction date will change.”
He also said that they did not have a clear date as to when construction would be completed.
“At this point, we don’t have an answer for that,” Reyna said.
Both Hernandez and Reyna said that while construction may be taking longer than expected, the end results will be worth the issues.
“The results of this will be great but, unfortunately, we gotta deal with the mishaps until the project gets completed,” Hernandez said.
Reyna has a similar outlook on the situation.
“Once it’s all complete, it’s going to be a better route,” he said.
Student Salazar hopes that the end result is worth the time it is taking.
–Rider Photographer Daniela Martinez Salazar contributed to this report.
