RGV Road Construction Info... - Montana Owners Club

jpf · 11-21-2005, 12:56 PM

Just a road caution infogram for those coming into the RGV. Lots of road work going on all around. Speed limits varying 50, 55, and 65, but I couldn't do it because of the twists and trucks. We drove west on 83 from Harlingen through Weslaco, Mercedes, McAllen, to Mission yesterday to visit BPV, our home park for the winter. Two sections of two lanes each way for 5 and 14 miles respectively are pretty narrow rough lanes with cement abutments close in on either side. South out of Harlingen heading down to South Padre Island has the same thing.
BPV looks great (!), we'll be going in earlier than our planned Dec 1 date, heading down to South Padre Island for a week tomorrow at a County Park we found today that is huge, about 1/4 full, and has full hookups, on the Gulf, walk across the Park to the beach. Temp is supposed to be 77 Tuesday, and in the 80's by T-day.

jerry

CountryGuy · 11-23-2005, 11:46 AM

Jerry, you mean to tell us that they have NOT finished 83 YET???? Been working on that at least the last 2 years! SIGHHHH

jrgwdenner · 11-23-2005, 12:04 PM

Well, just so it's clear enough for us to get to our site at Victoria Palms and I'll be happy to sit there for a couple of months...except for a few short trips to visit other MOCers.

CountryGuy · 11-23-2005, 12:25 PM

Last year Judy, the intersection for Victoria Palms was one of the worst. HINT!!!! Pay close attention to the temporary exit signs, you sometimes have to get off the xpressway a mile or two before the exit, and run the service drives.

Bill and Ann · 11-23-2005, 12:40 PM

Why use 83 at all. With all the new roads on the north end of Pharr/McAllen/Mission such as Trenton, Buddy Owen, Monte Cristo etc. They are more accessible to the west and handier to the shopping areas and the north/south access routes such as 10th, 23rd, Conway etc.

OntMont · 11-23-2005, 02:55 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by CountryGuy

HINT!!!! Pay close attention to the temporary exit signs, you sometimes have to get off the xpressway a mile or two before the exit, and run the service drives.

Actually, you

always

have to get off the expressway a mile or two before the street you want. Just the way 83 and its "Frontage Road" system works. (But Carol is right, the Victoria Palms exit was especially tricky last year, maybe they have moved past there by now). Its all part of the fun of learning your way around the RGV, ("now let's see, Camping World is at Bryan Road, so which exit do you take to get there, not forgetting that it is different east and west bound"). But seriously, expressway 83 (as opposed to business 83) is different from any highway we have encountered elsewhere, but it is well signed and it works OK when you get used to it.

jrgwdenner · 11-23-2005, 02:59 PM

So IF we find our way to the RV show in mid Jan., will someone be selling a Bedsaver or should we get one before we leave home? I did connect it to this thread, didn't I?

Fordzilla · 11-24-2005, 01:33 AM

We were down in this area the last two days without the monty and can only agree with the fact that the roads are really a mess. Would not have been fun towing the Montana. And yes we thought the same thing about the camping world in the Mission area. We drove by and decided to stop and had to drive 2-3 miles to get back to CW. But it was worth the trip. Dropped the normal $100 before we got out of there.

sreigle · 11-25-2005, 10:11 AM

Much of Texas seems to use that frontage road/exit system. Not fun.

So how about US 281 from I-37 south? Is there a lot of construction on that road, too? That's our planned route.

jrgwdenner · 11-25-2005, 10:27 AM

Fordzilla, if you're smart, you'll get your Montana and stay in the Valley!

OntMont · 11-25-2005, 01:53 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

So how about US 281 from I-37 south? Is there a lot of construction on that road, too? That's our planned route.

I hope someone already down there will answer with the latest info. Last year there was construction on the lower end of 281, it was not impossible, just one of those things you have to do to get where you are going. Bill gets off 281 before the constuction, and takes an alternate route that avoids the construction areas. Unfortunately, my 2001 version of S&T does not show the road he refers to. Take a look on your 2006 version, and see if you can find Monte Cristo road running west from 281 just north of McAllen. Mine only shows a short dead end street with that name.

Bill and Ann · 11-26-2005, 04:06 AM

John: Not too sure about the number of Monte Cristo Road but it might be shown as Mile 8 or Mile 9 Road. Road 107 is a good road E-W which turns into Conway at Mission. Another road to get across the top end from East to West is Trention Rd. We often take it across when we are going to the Weslaco Market. It goes right over to Alamo. You are going to find a lot of new stores in the Trenton/10 th area.
We never go down to the Frontage/83 area as the E/W and N/S roads get you where you want to go. We mainly use Trenton or Nolana for the E/W and Jackson or McCall Roads for the N/S access.
John: There has been so much new construction down here that there isn't a local map that shows all the new roads. The newest street map you can buy down here is 1997 or 1998.

Fordzilla · 11-27-2005, 08:43 AM

Sorry for not getting back to everone sooner but we are back in our stick home in Iowa again and we took 281 down and the only construction was right in the McAllen area. We would love to stay there as it felt great to leave Iowa @ 7 degrees adn arive in McAllen and it was 95 the day we spent along the border and in Mexico. Maybe in 15-20 more years??? Seems like forever! But we did enjoy our time there and have said we would like to return to that area again when we can spend more time down there.

You may also like: