Northeast El Paso's New Expressway Is Years Away. Its Construction Zone Is Already Here.

From Saturday, October 24 through Monday, October 26, TxDOT has scheduled a 50-hour run of alternating lane closures on US-54 between Mesquite Hills and McCombs. Crews will be setting up a traffic switch so they can build a new US-54 overpass for the Borderland Expressway, according to KTSM's October 9 closure roundup. That stretch is the main way to reach several of Northeast El Paso's active new-home communities. Touring them that weekend means driving through it.

That weekend shows the trade buyers make along this corridor. The new homes are advertised close to El Paso's metro median. What buyers get at that price is today's commute plus years of active construction. The expressway's payoff goes to whoever still owns the house when the mainline opens, and the last public forecast put that in 2030.

Built, Under Construction, and Only Funded

The Borderland Expressway is TxDOT's extension of Loop 375 through Northeast El Paso toward the New Mexico line. It is being built in three phases, and each one is at a different stage.

1. Phase 1 is open. One mile of frontage roads, with a shared-use path, now runs from Business US 54/Dyer Street to Railroad Drive. KFOX14 reported that drivers could use it the morning after the February 11, 2025 ribbon cutting.
2. Phase 2 is under construction. This is the mainline, about 6.8 miles from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard/FM 3255 at the New Mexico state line to Railroad Drive. It includes interchanges at MLK, McCombs and US-54 and an overpass at Stan Roberts. A March 2025 construction report gave a forecast start of December 2025 and completion in 2030. On August 7, 2026, KVIA reported that crews were "about to start placing the first beams."
3. Phase 3 has funding but no public start date. It is the final link from Railroad Drive/Dyer to Loop 375. The Texas Transportation Commission approved $150 million for it, KVIA reported on August 21, 2025.

TxDOT's 2023 environmental assessment says the expressway will not be tolled. It put total construction cost at about $309.9 million. The March 2025 report raised that to about $316 million, not counting land acquisition. The project has already changed the area. The El Paso Times noted that the long-running Bowen Ranch closed in late 2025 to make way for the highway. KTSM described the family's ranching tradition there as going back more than a century.

For a buyer, the key fact is that the one segment people can drive today is a mile of frontage road. The 6.8 miles that would change how Northeast El Paso connects to the rest of the region are still years from opening.

What Living Through Phase 2 Looks Like

KTSM's October schedule shows what the next few years involve. From October 10 to 12, MLK was fully closed in both directions between Loma Real Avenue and NM-404/O'Hara Road. Drivers were detoured by way of O'Hara Road, I-10, Transmountain and US-54, and only local traffic could reach homes and businesses north of O'Hara. Stan Roberts was closed for the same weekend between McCombs and MLK. Access to EPEC's Newman Power Plant was routed through the McCombs and Stan Roberts intersection.

During the week, the work keeps going. From October 12 to 16, Mesquite Hills was down to one lane between US-54 and Red Man. Flaggers directed haul trucks across Mesquite Hills and across the McCombs and Stan Roberts intersection while crews hauled in earth for embankments and worked on bridges.

Each traffic switch reroutes drivers so crews can build the next stage. A household that buys here this fall should expect weekend closures, flagged intersections and haul trucks on the roads it uses every day. If the 2030 forecast holds, that could last for most of a typical first ownership period.

New Homes Priced Close to the Metro Median

That's why the asking prices matter. The Texas Real Estate Research Center's El Paso metro dashboard shows 780 MLS sales in August 2026, up 6.27% from a year earlier. The median price was $280,782 and the average was $313,724. There were 2,513 active listings at month's end, or 3.4 months of inventory.

Here are the starting prices builders along the corridor were recently advertising on their websites:

Campo Del Sol is a master-planned community at 11102 Ground Cherry Street. Its builders are Edwards Homes, Tropicana Homes, Classic American Homes and Desert View Homes.

Those starting prices run from $249,950 to $329,950, a span that takes in both the August metro median and the metro average. A new home off McCombs or near US 54 starts at about what a typical El Paso resale sold for this summer. The price includes new construction and new-home warranties. It doesn't include any discount for the construction zone, and it doesn't include any premium for a road that isn't open yet. Advertised prices change often, so confirm them with each builder.

Why the Metro Median Misses These Sales

TRERC says its housing data covers properties sold through the MLS. New homes sold directly by a builder to a buyer, outside the MLS, aren't counted. ZIP-level figures for areas such as 79934 are available only to Realtors through the Texas REALTORS® MarketViewer portal.

So the published El Paso median, the number most portals repeat, only partly reflects sales in a corridor where many homes come straight from builders. When a buyer compares a Campo Del Sol price with "the El Paso median," they are comparing a builder's asking price with a number that may leave out many of that builder's sales. The comparison is still useful as a rough guide, but it isn't a precise valuation.

Match How Long You'll Own to the Road's Timeline

If prices don't reflect the expressway yet, the question for a buyer is when they plan to sell compared with when the mainline is expected to open.

A household that expects to move within three or four years would likely sell while Phase 2 is still under construction, to buyers facing the same closures and flaggers as this fall's buyers. Staying past 2030 is what puts an owner in position to live with a finished interchange, if the forecast holds. The only public completion date is the March 2025 forecast, and nothing since has firmed it up, so treat it as an estimate.

Before choosing a lot, check a few things:

• Which interchange the subdivision would use. Builders describe location in broad terms like "off McCombs" or "minutes from US 54." The MLK, McCombs and US-54 interchanges will each serve different routes, so compare a lot's daily drive against TxDOT's project page.
• Current closures. KTSM's October 9 roundup listed closures running through October 26, so check the latest schedule before booking a final walk-through, a move-in or a closing appointment.
• Haul-truck routes. Flagged crossings at McCombs/Stan Roberts and on Mesquite Hills affect daily driving more than the weekend closures do.
• The Phase 3 connection. Until the link from Railroad Drive to Loop 375 gets a construction date, the mainline's full connection to the rest of the loop isn't on a firm schedule.

FAQ

Will the Borderland Expressway be a toll road? No. TxDOT's January 2023 environmental assessment says the project will not be tolled.

When does Phase 2 open? The most recent public forecast, from March 2025, gives a 2030 completion. As of KVIA's August 2026 update, crews were preparing to place the first beams.

Is any part of it open now? Yes. Phase 1, one mile of frontage roads between Dyer Street and Railroad Drive, has been open since February 2025.

At International Real Estate, David Torres uses a construction and development background to read a TxDOT alignment the way a builder would. He looks at which interchange a lot feeds, how long the work around it is likely to last, and how that affects both your purchase price and your future sale. If you're weighing a new home along the Borderland Expressway corridor, schedule a consultation. Agenda tu consulta.