AGUA lawsuit may halt 281/1604 interchange

A lawsuit filed Wednesday by a local environmental group has stopped plans to construct a desperately-needed interchange at Loop 1604 and Hwy 281 in its tracks. The Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas (AGUA) claims the Federal Highway Administration, Texas Department of Transportation and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority are failing to conduct necessary environmental studies and examine any potential damage the $140 million interchange will have on the Edwards Aquifer and any endangered karts species below.

“Cutting corners on transparency and required environmental studies hurts everyone,” insists AGUA President Enrique Valdivia in a press statement.  “Unfortunately, that is the route that ARMA has chosen, leaving us no choice but to bring this action.”

The proposed interchange, which was expected to be underway as early as next month and completed by 2013, has been classified under Categorical Exclusion.  Under this category no environmental assessment or environmental impact statement is needed to build the interchange because the project was determined to have no “significant effect on the human environment.”

Biological assessments conducted near Hwy 281 and Loop 1604 did find 32 karts features in the project area of which four contained non-endangered karts invertebrates.  The studies concluded the impact of the interchange on these features would be “insignificant and discountable.”

“Calling this project an ‘interchange’ is fundamentally misleading. The project incorporates more than eight miles of added lanes along 1604 and 281, with years of construction delays and added air, noise and water pollution. These impacts are significant and citizens deserve both honest answers and clear solutions for minimizing these impacts,” Valdivia continues.

During a press conference late Wednesday, Alamo RMA Chairman William Thornton said the interchange will better protect the environment because it will move traffic through the area quickly and stop the current congestion and stream of idling vehicles. 

“This project is not going to make things worse.  This project will make things better,” he said. 

The partial interchange would connect northbound Hwy 281 to Loop 1604 East and West and both directions of Loop 1604 to Hwy 281 South.  The four non-tolled ramps are to be built above the existing three-tier crossroads.  Ramps would begin and end near Donella Drive on Hwy 281 and at Gold Canyon and Sigma Road on Loop 1604.

AGUA’s lawsuit may not only delay the project, but could potentially impact funding for the interchange, which was being paid for with federal stimulus money and Proposition 14 bonds.  If construction of the interchange is stopped, more than 200 jobs will also be lost.