TxDOT to start construction on $242M highway to reduce Starr County traffic jams

After more than two decades of planning, construction is underway on a 17-mile stretch of a new four-lane divided highway, State Loop 195, to enable traffic to flow more freely across Starr County. 

The Texas Department of Transportation expects the new $242 million roadway to run parallel to U.S. 83 and reduce truck congestion in the communities of Roma, Escobares, Garceno, Villareales, and Rio Grande City. 

And instead, route commercial traffic to the north, closer to Starr County Airport. 

TxDOT estimated that the new state highway would divert about 7,000 out of 30,200 vehicles traveling between Farm to Market Road 755 and Farm to Market Road 3167 away from U.S. 83 each day – a 19% decline. 

The initial highway project was proposed in 2000 but halted in 2008 due to a lack of funding. 

In 2024, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar helped secure $232 million in federal transportation funding for Starr County as part of TxDOT’s Unified Transportation Program. That program enables Starr County to obtain 79% of its infrastructure funding from federal sources. 

That funding will help complete State Loop 195, retrofit Farm to Market Road 755, improve safety along U.S. 83, expand the roadway to four lanes leading to the Starr Camargo Bridge, and restore the Roma International Suspension Bridge. 

“Investing in transportation systems not only minimizes the risk of accidents for travelers but also provides local jobs and helps the development of our communities,” Cuellar said at the time. 

The first phase of State Loop 195, from Farm to Market Road 755 to Farm to Market Road 3167, a 4.38-mile stretch, is expected to cost $62 million and be completed by 2028. The second phase of the project, from Farm to Market Road 3167 to Farm to Market Road 649, is estimated to cost $80 million for the next 5.5 miles. The third phase, a 7.5-mile highway between Farm to Market Road 649 and Loma Blanca Road, just north of U.S. 83, is expected to cost $100 million. 

“In this case, it improves safety…mobility…connectivity, and at the end of the day, it saves time,” said Pete Alvarez, district engineer of the TxDOT Pharr District. “If you think about how much time it takes to go from North of Roma to Rio Grande City today, with all those traffic lights. I think there’s 24 traffic signals between Roma and Rio Grande – as we move forward, this will provide a relief route – nonstop.” 

Beyond that, TxDOT already plans to host public meetings on Dec. 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Rio Grande City High School and on Dec. 18 at the same time at Edinburg North High School to discuss plans for a future feasibility study for an extension of State Loop 195. An extension would connect the new road, which will end near Rio Grande City, to U.S. 281, the future I-69C in Edinburg.