El Paso County commissioners got an update this week on the long-running Bob Hope Drive expansion in East El Paso, and the headline takeaway wasn't encouraging: the project still doesn't have all the money it needs. Officials told commissioners the expansion is expected to cost $44 million, with only about $12 million secured so far.
According to KFOX14/CBS4, commissioners were presented with the funding gap during a meeting this week, and project officials said they plan to move forward by applying for additional state infrastructure bank loan funding. The city of El Paso is separately seeking $7 million for right-of-way acquisitions, while the county would be on the hook for the remaining $33 million, per the station's report.
What the Expansion Would Actually Build
The project plans call for a four-lane divided roadway stretching from Loop 375 to Mission Ridge Boulevard, according to the same account. Beyond the road itself, the plans include a shared path, a storm sewer system, a retention basin, and irrigation.
Roxanna Medina of El Paso's Planning & Development said the county wants to move ahead on acquiring right-of-way even though the project doesn't yet have its full funding lined up, KFOX14/CBS4 reported. The station also noted that a state infrastructure bank loan may be approved to help close the gap, though its status hasn't been detailed.
A Commissioner Pushes Back on the Price Tag
Not everyone at the table was satisfied with how the numbers have been presented. Commissioner David Stout questioned using the county budget for the project and said transparency is needed about this and other county projects, per the station's reporting. Stout added that the Bob Hope Drive expansion is an example of what's pushing the county's budget up.
The station's report also raised concerns tied to the corridor itself, including that some property owners are dumping construction debris into an escarpment near the road, which it said is increasing construction costs, and that the road's stability is currently unknown.
A Long History of Shifting Numbers
The $44 million figure now on the table is notably higher than earlier public estimates for Bob Hope Drive work. El Paso County commissioners in February authorized submission of a $25 million BUILD transportation grant application for the roadway, according to citizenportal.ai. That followed an earlier county action in January 2025 that authorized staff to submit a federal BUILD grant application for a Bob Hope Drive extension, as citizenportal.ai also reported at the time.
That earlier application pegged construction costs at $32 million and total project costs at $38 million, with the county agreeing to provide a $13.2 million local contribution if the grant were awarded, citizenportal.ai noted.
El Paso's 2018 Destino 2045 plan is an earlier planning document; more recent MPO listings break the corridor into separate segments.
Segmented Projects, Segmented Price Tags
More recent MPO planning documents break the corridor into separate segments with their own costs and timelines, which complicates any apples-to-apples comparison with the $44 million figure cited this week. One MPO project listing describes Bob Hope Extension Segment 1 as a new six-lane divided roadway with bike lanes running from Loop 375 to Mission Ridge Boulevard, per the El Paso MPO's project listings. That document assigns Segment 1 a total project cost of $12,423,189, with an expenditure year of 2031.
A separate MPO document describes Bob Hope Extension Segment 2 as a four-lane divided extension running from Peyton to Berryville/Darrington, also including bike lanes. That listing puts Segment 2's total project cost at $22,296,181, with an expenditure year of fiscal year 2043. The segmented figures describe separate planning phases, while commissioners discussed a $44 million overall price tag this week.
