EL PASO, Texas -- Mary Haynes has lived near Redd Road in the Upper Valley for close to 20 years.

"It used to take me about 15 minutes to come downtown and work, and then 15 minutes or 20 minutes to get home. Now it takes at least 45 each way," Haynes told KFOX.

And that's why she agrees with the city's plan to extend Redd Road over the Rio Grande, connecting it with Gomez Road.

"We have incredible congestion in the Upper Valley because of the new homes that were built," she said.

The city said by 2025, intersections at Artcraft Road and Country Club Road will fail because of congestion, and extending Redd Road along with turning it into a three lane road would help.

"It's one of those things, if you build it, they will come," said Bill Crossland, who also lives in the Upper Valley and is against the changes to Redd Road. "Once they do this, they are going to take away the character of the Upper Valley and the reason why many people moved out there and many people are planning to move out there."

Crossland believed the city's forecast for traffic congestion just doesn't add up to what's happening on the ground.

"Especially with the economy right now, the lack of home sales, the lack of new development, the economy is not getting any better and I don't expect that it will for the next four to eight years," he said.

The actual construction of an extension of Redd Road is still years away, and the city vowed to study the area again in eight to 10 years to see if the plans are still needed.

But the city said by putting the extension in the plans now, it will make construction easier in the future.