The County of El Paso originally secured federal Coordinated Border Infrastructure (CBI) funds for the construction of the Aguilera International Highway, which provides connectivity between the Tornillo Port of Entry and Interstate 10, in the amount of $18M. The County intended to utilize bond funds from both the 2007 and 2012 bond issuance to meet the local match requirements for the federal dollars.
However, in 2013, the County, in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, the City of Socorro and the Town of Horizon City, developed the 2013 County Comprehensive Mobility Plan. The Plan included a series of funding realignments, whereby the County removed the CBI funds from this project and funded it utilizing local vehicle registration fee (VRF) funds instead.
Given the change in funding for this project, the County must close out the contract with TxDOT on remaining funds paid to the agency as part of the original funding agreement. Specifically, the County had paid $281,244 to TxDOT to proceed with preliminary engineering and administrative review of the project. However, a final estimate developed by TxDOT estimates that approximately $258,000 was utilized under the agreement, resulting in an approximate refund to the County totaling $23,000.