A Rio Grande Valley lawmaker is accusing the Texas Department of Transportation and Edinburg city officials of preventing economic growth.

Representative Terry Canales sent a letter to TXDOT and addressed local leaders on Thursday. The disagreement is over a proposed road project in north Edinburg.

The proposed road project is State Highway 68, but construction hasn't started yet. The goal is to carry trucks from international bridges and bring them back here to Highway 281.

But where exactly the proposed project will meet Highway 281 is where leaders start to disagree. FM 490 is one possibility, and it's been the plan since 2014, according to Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza. 

Last year, TXDOT changed the proposal to an intersection to further north of the airport.

Both Canales, who helped secure funding for the project, and mayor Garza said TXDOT did not tell them about this change.

The city wants the project to go back to the original plan.

Canales, though, worries that if it stops at FM 490, truck traffic will be held up by a stoplight, which would defeat the purpose of the project.

So Canales wants to build the highway around the airport, but that concerns mayor Garza.

"These trucks, you know, the opportunity is there for our city to capitalize on the trade activity. Just like all the international ports of entry to all the cities that are here, we want that same opportunity, the city of Edinburg, to capitalize on the growth of our region," Garza said.

Mayor Garza says in his conversations with TXDOT they were promised it would be designed without a traffic light.

To read mayor Garza's full statement about the State Highway 68 project, click here.

TXDOT released the statement below:

"TXDOT values Texas House Transportation Committee Chair Terry Canales' passion and commitment to the Rio Grande Valley’s success. TXDOT will continue to work closely with his office, the Legislature and local partners to ensure the SH 68 project meets the needs of communities."