(Guadalupe County) — Cordova Road is among the front runners when it comes needing a complete overhaul. In its attempts to help address the transportation needs of not only those in the area but of those throughout the region, the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court is highly considering submitting the project to the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for future expansion.
Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher says in its strategic plan, transportation infrastructure was one of the top areas in which the public and taxpayers wanted the county to focus on.
“So in March of 2019, we came back to commissioners court, executed a resolution alongside the city of Seguin, Comal County and New Braunfels to identify multiple projects in high growth areas that needed focus and funding for transportation construction. One of those areas was Cordova Road with the looming deadline for MPO project submission coming up on April 1, 2021,” said Kutscher.
During a recent meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court, Commissioner Drew Engelke, who represents that area, says it’s no secret that Cordova Road has everything needed to be considered for improvements.
“Cordova Road itself mainly a county road as most of us are aware connecting between SH 46 and SH 123. It’s roughly a 3.5-mile-long road and on average, we are looking at 3,000 to 4,000 cars per day that go down this road. The map shows you what they call housing units but just preliminary discussions of the units, you are looking at almost 2,000 units just that affect Cordova Road in just the near future. So being at a two-lane road, the drainage is poor, the extensive use of it – I think a lot of the traffic now is headed to like, for example, the grocery store. You are going to go from these subdivisions to the Seguin grocery store which is on 123 so you are going to find a way to get there so that interconnectivity but most of us who are familiar with this region are aware of Cordova Road and what’s going on there. I get daily calls. We get updates from the city which has worked with us very well on development as far as what’s coming,” said Engelke.
Sharing a conceptual design for the project was city of Seguin Engineer David Rabago. Rabago says proposed plans to Cordova Road will allow added capacity from State Highway 46 to State Highway 123 — providing regional accessibility and mobility to the area.
“Some of the improvements that we are proposing, it’s going to be a five-lane road for two-lanes going each way and then a center lane. We are also potentially adding medians for control of accessibility mainly on these areas along 46 and 123 and the reason being is that we want to be able to get ahead of the development there. When it comes to commercial development, if we put the medians in there, it allows for better accessibility and it creates just a scenario where it is a little bit safer for access to the businesses and also to the subdivisions as well,” said Rabago.
Improvements along Cordova will also include drainage and the addition of sidewalks on each side of the roadway.
Projects in and around the area also called for hundreds if not thousands of new housing developments in the Cordova Road area with many of those expected to arrive this year and next year.
Kutscher says it’s important for the county to address this growth and believes this link between two state highways is the route to go.
“We all know that there is a tremendous amount of growth that is going on currently and that is being planned in the no so distant future in that area. Cordova Road is mainly a county road right now but as development happens, expect over a long period of time for that to turn to a city of Seguin road but it definitely affects all of us and the entire community and I thought it was important enough to come back and say okay, let’s have a discussion today about that being a MPO requested and funded city, county project. What does that look like? “said Kutscher.
Kutscher says the cost for the Cordova Road Project, should it be approved by the MPO, will be an estimated $27.9 million. Of that cost, 20 percent will be the responsibility of the city and county. That includes $5 million each for construction, engineering, and acquisition. Those funds are scheduled to contributed by the entities throughout the fiscal years of 2024-2026. Those years are also the same projected years for the timeline of the construction should the remaining 80 percent be awarded by the MPO.
“We have in the last two budgets, committed and restricted half a million dollars each year for MPO matching funds. I recommend whether we move forward with this or any others, we continue to do that with future county funding because like we said, the need for infrastructure never goes away, it only heightens with development and these funds wouldn’t be needed if you look at the chart, it shows fiscal year 2024, 2025, 2026. This timeline is only contingent upon being successful at the MPO and everything lining up equal. If that got pushed out another year with us putting in our normal budget, committed or restricted funds specifically for MPO and infrastructure projects like this, we could easily have the three, three and a half million saved up and paid – some out of either special revenue funds, capital project funds or just within our normal budget. It should be close or if we have another need for issuing debt and some of that absolutely, we could issue some of that as well,” said Kutscher.
Kutscher says he believes that if the county does not submit this project now, then the county will be forced to cover the entire cost on its own sometime in the future.
“If we don’t do this, we are going to be looking at trying to issue more debt, coming up with other creative ways of financing a project that is not going to go away. I think this project has the best chance to be looked at favorably at the MPO because of the identified projects that we did in 2019 but also TxDOT’s history of understanding that they are trying to keep people off of those interstates, Interstate 10, Interstate 35, those normal local trips not traveling to the interstate creating additional congestion and traffic problems and accidents – also having additional connectivity from 46 to be able to get to 123 – (and then) ultimately to FM 20 and over to the toll road has been a point of focus and conversation in the region for the last decade. I think it checks a lot of the boxes and to be honest, if we don’t fund half of it, it’s not going to happen. We have to fund 20 percent of the construction along with splitting acquisition of the right-of-way and engineering cost because that is the absolute bare minimum in order to submit a project to the MPO,” said Kutscher.
Cordova Road, however, isn’t the only thoroughfare project that is top on the list for the county. Kutscher says a project on the west end is also in need of enhancements. He says the FM 1103 project is a city of Cibolo and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) requested project. After a failed attempt to get MPO money in 2014, the county says the project, which also includes a small portion of Schertz, remains on the table.
“TxDot came to the city of Cibolo and said ‘look we know this a needed transportation thoroughfare corridor. You need to do right-of-way expansion, what can ya’ll come to the table with? Bonds issued, city of Cibolo participated financially and TxDOT came to the table with $20 to $25 million for right-of-way expansion and right-of-way acquisition from 35 down to Steele High School, the curve at Steele High School. The city of Cibolo now is requesting for further extension and also looking at some future planning as a direct connector from that curve down to FM 78. That is really needed in the region not only to handle the traffic – 1103 is one of those projects that absolutely is needed, has been. I forget the exact traffic counts, but I want to say they were close to 15 to 20,000 cars a day. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but I mean it is substantial,” said Kutscher.
Again, Guadalupe County officials are tasked with weighing both projects and then submitting one if not both to the MPO for consideration. County leaders this week are also expected to sit down with leaders from Comal County, TxDOT and the MPO in further discussing the future transportation needs of the region.
The court is expected to make its official project recommendation either late February or early March.
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