(Seguin) — The city of Seguin and Guadalupe County are hoping to help bring nearly $30 million worth of improvements to an area along Cordova Road. The city and county are both submitting the Cordova Road Project as their number one transportation priority for this latest call for projects request from the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).
City Engineer David Rabago says the MPO helps to identify and fund projects using federal dollars. He says it has provided funding for a number of local projects, including upgrades to TOR Drive, a current plan to improve Rudeloff Road, and a number sidewalk and trail projects, including portions of the city’s Walnut Branch Hike/Bike Trail.
“It is essentially comprised of different agencies and municipalities within the area from New Braunfels to San Antonio and then east towards Seguin with the common goal of providing better mobility and transportation throughout this whole area,” said Rabago.
Rabago says the various agencies throughout the MPO have submitted projects for consideration. He says there’s also an opportunity now for the public to comment on any of these projects. In fact, a virtual public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. today on the MPO’s Facebook page. Rabago says a number of projects are being submitted now for consideration, and that’s why it’s important for the public to provide some input as part of this process.
“Right now, we are in the process that is called The Call for Projects which all it means is that the federal government is going to grant our MPO $300 million worth of federal funding. So, what that means is that with The Call for Projects, the different members of the MPO, we submit projects that we believe are good candidates that provide mobility throughout their region and as part of that process, then we go through a selection process where we feel which projects are the best for the area as a whole and these projects can include anything from added capacity to transportation alternatives which are more like your pedestrian and bike friendly facilities as well, ”said Rabago,
He says not all of the projects can be funded, which is another reason why the public hearing and the public comment period are so important.
“If you combine all the projects that were submitted from the multiple agencies that comprised the MPO, we had 68 projects that were submitted and the entire cost for these projects are $675 million. So, out of those $675 million that are needed to fund these projects, only $300 million are available so that’s where it starts getting a little bit competitive between the agencies that comprise the MPO because we are all trying to not only be team players and select projects that are the best for the region. However, we also want to select projects that also help our agencies as well,” said Rabago.
Rabago says the city of Seguin and Guadalupe County are joining forces and have submitted a major roadway improvement project along Cordova Road. Rabago says this is an added capacity project. Cordova Road has seen a significant increase in traffic over the years, and there is more coming as several new residential developments are going up in that area. This project is co-sponsored by the city and county, and it is the top transportation priority for both entities at this time. Rabago says the city and county want to work together to share some of the costs associated with the project.
“The city of Seguin and Guadalupe County will be working as a team when it comes to the funding requirements to be able to bring this project to fruition. The project limits for the Cordova Road Project are approximately 3.5 miles of roadway and this includes drainage as well and multi-use projects or trails on both sides of the road and it extends from State Highway 123 all the way to State Highway 46. The project cost estimated is approximately $26.5 million and again, the main objective of this project is to provide mobility and accessibility from State Highway 46 to State Highway 123,” said Rabago.
Rabago says that the project also includes a safety component, which will realign a portion of the roadway near Highway 46. He says this is another important detail included in the project.
“We would be realigning the intersection of Highway 46 with Cordova Road. Right now, if you are familiar with that intersection, it’s more of an angle intersection. What we would do is we would essentially curve it a little bit further south to be directly across from Three Oaks Road and essentially provide a safer intersection for the area and also provide better accessibility to that area as a whole,” said Rabago.
Rabago says that traffic volume has been steadily increasing on the roadway. He says there’s already a need for these improvements to be made on Cordova Road, but he says they also want to try to stay ahead of the growth that’s coming to that area.
“We are taking a proactive approach with this project because if we are given the funding for this project, this project would probably be completed in seven to eight years from now. There’s already exponential growth in the area and this project would essentially be able to keep up with all the growth that would be coming there in seven to eight years,” said Rabago.
If the project is approved, the lion’s share of the funding would come from the MPO. Rabago says the city and county would share a smaller a portion of the overall cost.
“So, the local portion is essentially $5 million per agency. So, the city would contribute $5 million, and Guadalupe County would contribute $5 million and one might ask ‘well, what are those $5 million for?’ That’s for engineering and environmental services, right-of-way acquisition as well and 20 percent of the construction cost of the projects. So, those are the requirements for this federally funded project,” said Rabago.
The city has also submitted a transportation alternative project, which would create a major sidewalk network on the west side of town. Rabago says that these new sidewalks would connect to existing sidewalk systems that have been built in Seguin and which will help to improve pedestrian mobility across parts of the city. Rabago says it’s called the Stratton-Jefferson-Guadalupe-Nelda Pedestrian Improvement Project. He says it has a long name because of all of the streets that will be connected if the project is funded.
“This project we are looking at adding approximately 5,700 linear feet of pedestrian accessible route improvements. The project cost estimate is approximately $3 million and there is a safety component with this project meaning that we will provide pedestrians access through sidewalks as opposed to right now, the residents and the people that use these roads or walk along these roads or in this area – have to walk on the roads. It will also provides connectivity between the housing developments and also high activity generators. For example, the city public library and also the events complex. It provides a transportation equity component because this project would provide pedestrian access to two of the AARP bus stops that would essentially allow pedestrians to not only access the bus stop but be able to take the bus to other areas of town,” said Rabago. 
There’s some added value for this project, because it will service some low to moderate income areas. It will also, as Rabago mentioned, provide greater access to the city’s public transportation system, known as the ConnectSeguin bus service. Rabago says the $3 million for sidewalks may seem like a large number, but he says there are a number of challenges that come with building these major sidewalk networks.
“Sidewalks are one of those projects where most people would say ‘it’s just a sidewalk’ but as you mentioned, there is a lot intricacies in building sidewalks, some of them is just working within existing right-of-way which is essentially city property, also the topography as well for this project — if you go down Guadalupe Street, you are start seeing that there is a bit of change in topography and anytime you have that, what that essentially entails is the need for either retaining walls or something to that effect to be able to make up the difference in change in topography so although $3 million seems like a lot of money for this type of pedestrian project, just everything that is involved in making this project work and making it ADA accessible as well – that is what essentially starts making the price increase,” said Rabago.
Rabago says these projects are all forward thinking. He says more growth is coming, and they want to get as much of this work done before the area’s transportation infrastructure is overwhelmed by all the additional traffic. He says, if their projects are chosen, then the MPO can help them stay ahead of that trend.
“Construction is always intrusive. We take pride in trying to make it as least intrusive as possible. However, it is intrusive so the more proactive we can be, the better off our residents and ultimately everyone is going to be just because it is less painful to build the road that is not as used right now as it is going to be used in seven to eight years or even 20 years from now,” said Rabago.
There are a couple ways for the public to also participate in this process. They can watch and participate during today’s virtual public meeting. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. today and can be viewed at alamoareampo.org/yourmove, or they can watch it live via the Alamo Area MPO’s Facebook page. People who cannot make it tonight, have until June 27 to comment on any of the proposed MPO projects. The MPO is expected to announce which projects will receive the federal funding by the end of 2021.