On October 19, 2006 the Corpus Christi Ecological Services Field Office issued a Biological Opinion to Federal Highways Administration for the Texas Department of Transportation’s widening and upgrade of U.S. Highway 83 from Farm-to-Market 3169 in Zapata County, Texas, south to Loma Blanca Road in Starr County, Texas for its effects on the federally listed endangered Zapata bladderpod (Physaria (=Lesquerella) thamnophila).  Six populations of Zapata bladderpod, consisting of approximately 1,412 individual plants, were found to occur within the proposed right-of-way.  The project will impact two populations with approximately 72 plants and by modifying the project the remaining 1,340 plants will be avoided, preserved, managed and monitored under the agency’s Resource Protection Signing System.