Traffic Alert: Downtown Lane Closures Will Affect I-10 Exits

Lane closures necessary for work related to the streetcar project in Downtown El Paso may cause backup on Interstate 10 exit ramps in coming weeks.

Officials with the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authorith (CRRMA) are encouraging drivers to seek alternate routes.

Yandell Drive will be reduced to one westbound lane at Stanton Street beginning Monday, April 4, 2016, just one block away from merging traffic using the westbound Mesa Street exit at Downtown. This may have the biggest impact on commuters as actual lane reduction may begin two blocks before the actual closure.

Downtown Aloft Hotel Transformation Gets Facade Improvement Grant

By Armando Landin

The historic Bassett Tower in Downtown El Paso is undergoing a transformation thanks to local investors, and now the project to open an Aloft Hotel at the site has received a facade improvement grant.

Bassett Tower in Downtown El Paso has received a facade improvement grant. The historic highrise will become an Aloft Hotel, scheduled to open in April 2017. (Downtown Management District)

Work is underway on the adaptive reuse project which will turn the 15-story former office building into a 100 room hotel. Bassett Tower was completed in 1930 and designed by Henry Trost, making the building architecturally significant and a historic landmark.

New Ordinance Could Mean More Downtown Street Vendors

Visitors and residents of Downtown El Paso may soon see more street vendors popping up along Downtown streets thanks to a new ordinance passed by City Council.

A parking space in Downtown El Paso will soon be occupied by a food vendor on certain days of the week. (City of El Paso)

This includes allowing vendors, such as food trucks, to park in the spaces for longer than the time limit indicated on the meter. Vendors will have to receive a "Special Privilege" license from the City in order to do so.

Major I-10 Ramp Improvements at 'Fountains' Shown in Video

By Armando Landin   

An upcoming Texas Department of Transportation project will reconfigure existing Interstate 10 ramps and add a braided ramp near the Fountains at Farah in East El Paso, and a new video shows what the improvements will look like once completed.

A braided ramp is part of planned improvements to Interstate 10 near the Fountains at Farah in East El Paso. (Texas Department of Transportation)

The freeway will also get auxiliary lanes between Viscount and Airway Boulevards, lanes that are created at an on ramp and must exit at the next off ramp.

Courtyard by Marriott Plans New Hotel Next to Downtown Ballpark

Details have emerged on a brand new Courtyard by Marriott coming to Downtown El Paso. The new multi-floor hotel will have a prominent spot along I-10 and across the street from Southwest University Park, home of the El Paso Chihuahuas.

A Courtyard by Marriott hotel is planned for Downtown El Paso, as seen in this rendering from the architect. (Mitchell Carlson Stone, Inc.)

As first reported by El Paso Inc., the hotel project is led by Jim Scherr, the lawyer and businessman behind the renovation of the crumbling and vacant International Hotel into the Doubletree Hotel, just block away from the new Courtyard project.