COLLEGE STATION, Tex. (Real Estate Center) - The town of South Padre Island is embarking on measures to make its five-mile commercial strip safer for pedestrians.
On this week's episode of the Real Estate Center's Red Zone podcast, SPI Town Planner Rick Vasquez talks about plans to redevelop Padre Boulevard.
"It divides the island east to west and makes it very difficult for pedestrians to move from beach to bay in a safe way," Vasquez tells the Red Zone's Bryan Pope.
Vasquez says the redesign will consider the needs of full-time residents as well as those of the thousands of tourists who fill the town during the spring and summer.
Safety is a legitimate concern for a stretch of road that generates such a high level of traffic. According to a 2007 interview with Port Isabel Marketing Director Valerie Bates, an average of 690,000 cars pass over the causeway to the island each month.
SPI is working on the redevelopment project with Gateway Planning Group, Dover Kohl, Kimley Horn & Associates and TXP Inc.
Other stories covered during the half-hour podcast include courthouse drama in New Braunfels, Mansfield's "Mouser-keteer," Goliad's $10 million events center, happenings at Laredo's Fort McIntosh, and why everything's coming up roses in Texarkana.
Pope and cohost Edie Craig also talk about the latest accolades for Dan Wallrath, president and founder of the Bay Area Builders Association's Support Our Troops program, and they offer birthday wishes to 99-year-old Texas real estate legend Ebby Halliday.
You can listen to the free podcast from your computer by going to recenter.tamu.edu/podcast and clicking the "play" button beneath each episode. To subscribe, click on the RSS feed found on the podcast page. You can also subscribe through iTunes and download each episode to your iPod.
The Real Estate Center (http://recenter.tamu.edu) has been providing solutions through research for nearly 40 years. Funded primarily by Texas real estate licensee fees, the Center was created by the state legislature to meet the needs of many audiences, including the real estate industry, instructors, researchers and the general public.
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