The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) unleashed plans to develop SH 68 – a four-lane highway – to run from Interstate 2 (U.S. 83) in Donna, TX, to Interstate 69-Central (U.S. 281) in Edinburg, TX. The 22-mile roadway is geared to help improve traffic moving north and south. The goal is to relieve growing congestion on both I-2 and I-69C, as well as to help with the region’s growth. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission MSA is the fifth-largest metro in Texas.

Ernesto Silva, Donna’s interim city manager, indicated that the SH 68 project was an outgrowth of a 2004 proposal, which would connect Donna’s south side to Edinburg’s north side. “There are only so many miles of frontage on the expressway,” Silva said in a June 2016 interview with the Rio Grande Guardian. “You cannot create more, unless you have a new interstate.” He added that the new road would also provide the region with a new economic development corridor.

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