Longtime Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority director to retire

Longtime Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority (HCRMA) Executive Director Pilar Rodriguez, who also serves as Pharr’s fire chief, says he plans to retire from the HCRMA position as soon as the end of December.

According to Rodriguez, that timeline is tentative. He agreed to stay on while the HCRMA board picks his successor, who hasn’t been selected yet.

The HCRMA hired Rodriguez as executive director in 2012. 

He had spent the entirety of his career prior to that working for the city of McAllen, eventually becoming an assistant city manager.

Rodriguez says before he signed on with the RMA in 2012, the organization relied on contract employees. He was the first in-house executive director, hired to get the organization off the ground and bring in more in-house staff.

For the past 13 years, Rodriguez has led the RMA, except for a brief stint as Edinburg’s city manager in 2018.

“I’m going on 34 years of service, and so it’s — you know, I’m gonna retire from the army,” he said.

RMA Chairman Robert L. Lozano said that service is deeply appreciated.

“Pilar has served our community with integrity, professionalism, and genuine passion,” Lozano wrote in a statement. “His leadership has guided key projects forward. Pilar truly has a deep sense of public duty. We are truly grateful for his service and his support as we enter this next chapter.”

Rodriguez’s tenure at the HCRMA has included a number of milestones for the entity.

The organization’s staff grew from no employees to 16 during that time, half of them construction and construction support staff and the other half administrative and clerical staff.

The organization — which can build, operate, and maintain toll roads — hadn’t actually managed to turn any projects from idea to physical construction in the seven years it existed before Rodriguez arrived.

Now it has. 

For example, the HCRMA broke ground on the 12.2-mile 365 tollway in 2022. That $293 million stretch of highway will connect the Anzalduas International Bridge in Mission with the Pharr/Reynosa International Bridge and is scheduled to be completed in six to eight months.

Actually laying down asphalt was significant, Rodriguez said.

“It was a big milestone,” he said. “The RMA had done a lot of studies, had made several attempts to construct a project, but hadn’t been successful for the first few years. And we were finally able to succeed and get a project built.”

Other projects are in the works, as well. 

The International Bridge Trade Corridor (IBTC), a non-tolled roadway that will connect the 365 tollway and Farm-to-Market Road 493 to Interstate 2, is scheduled to begin construction as soon as 2028, according to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez says the TxDOT-led State Highway 68 project, which will connect I-2 to I-69C between Alamo and Donna and run north to US 281 north of Edinburg via a new 22-mile road, should be underway within the next 3-5 years. 

All of those projects ultimately feed into the prospective Hidalgo County loop. 

That 104 road system will circumvent the most urbanized parts of the county in a big irregular circle that goes a little further east than Mercedes and almost as far west as La Joya, north of Edinburg and south of McAllen. 

The loop has been a dream for Hidalgo County for longer than the HCRMA’s been around. Developing it has been a daunting decades-long, multibillion-dollar venture that sometimes seems not to be moving forward all that fast.

Rodriguez says that appearance is deceiving. The 365 tollway, the IBTC, and State Highway 68 will all feed into that loop system.

“That gets a little more than half the loop under construction,” he said.

Rodriguez said working on projects of such a large scope made time fly at the RMA.

“Especially when you’re busy trying to get a project delivered, it goes by quick,” he said.

The RMA is accepting applications for the executive director position.

Lozano says his board intends to use the leadership change to position the HCRMA for long-term success.

“Our future is bright,” he said. “We look forward to building on the strong foundation Pilar has helped establish.”

Applicants should hold at least a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, public administration, business or a related field, should be a licensed engineer or at least be able to demonstrate extensive transportation delivery experience, and should have more than 10 years of progressive leadership in transportation infrastructure.

Candidates should also show proven success in intergovernmental coordination, funding acquisition and public finance, and be familiar with TxDOT procedures, federal grants, and procurement laws.