EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — A lane closure causes a traffic jam on Hawkins Boulevard near Cielo Vista Mall and The Fountains at Farah. That’s what’s driving one viewer crazy this week!

David S. said in a message sent to KFOX14:

“What’s happening on Hawkins near the mall? There are orange bins blocking the lanes, but I don’t see any workers. That’s causing a traffic jam for people like us who have to go that way.”

KFOX14 reached out to the Texas Department of Transportation and the City of El Paso to see if their crews were working on this project, but it appeared to be coming from El Paso Water.

EP Water spokeswoman Denise Parra said renovations were underway at EP Water’s headquarters building.

I know a lot of people have probably seen the huge crane that’s out there and the construction is really going on, you know, it’s underway. But because there’s a lot of heavy machinery going in and out of the area, we had to close the right lane northbound on Hawkins,” said Denise Parra.

Construction on the building began last year, and Parra said the lane closure on Hawkins Street occurred in May of this year.

“We want to make sure we have that traffic control, so when that heavy equipment and vehicles come and go on the site, we want to make sure not only that they have enough room to get on and off the site, but also that the drivers that use Hawkins every day are safe and comply with that traffic control,” Parra said.

Construction and lane closures on Hawkins Street will continue until fall 2026.

“We’ve outgrown that building, both structurally and because of the new infrastructure and the new IT infrastructure and things like that. We really needed this new building, obviously, to allow the modernization of the building and to provide a new and better place for our employees to work,” Parra said.

The construction work to block the wells at the Farah entrance is a separate project and Parra said it has nothing to do with EP Water.

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If you have a topic you would like Diana to cover in her “What Drives You Crazy?” segment, email her at [email protected].

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