JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) — Juarez is ready to spend $3 million to beautify its main gateway into El Paso, Texas.
Work is set to begin this week on the new Paseo de las Luces, or Walk of Lights, a project that includes sidewalk reconstruction, benches, trees and lots of street lamps, Mayor Armando Cabada said.
The project is meant to complement the Paseo de las Luces on El Paso Street, in El Paso, and to draw more visitors to Juarez, the mayor said.
Juarez has struggled to attract tourists since the drug cartel wars of 2008-2012 scared Americans away. And in March, merchants reported another downturn in visitors due to president Trump’s threat to shut down the border to stop the Central American migrant caravans. Juarez police say most of the 1,200 homicides reported so far this year (an average of four per day) have been killings among drug dealers and insist that their city is safe for visitors.
In addition to the trees, benches and lights, a shaded pedestrian walkway will be built and businesses in the area will be encouraged to repaint their storefronts. Other improvements include better flood control and more parking areas, Cabada said.
The City will perform the work with funding from Mexico’s Ministry of Urban Development, which is also sponsoring the construction of new community centers, health clinics and storm drainage throughout Juarez.
Juarez’s Paseo de las Luces project, which will run from the Paso del Norte Bridge south to the Old Customs House on Avenida Vicente Guerrero, will be completed on April 1, 2020, the Mayor said.
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