Heather Keister during a Prop A press conference at Monterey High School (photo by Samuel Ortega)
The group promoting the Lubbock road bond – Proposition A on the November ballot – hopes voters agree the $27.60 annual increase in property taxes will be worth spending less time in their cars.
The majority of the seven projects are close to schools in growing Southwest Lubbock.
“Lubbock is expected to surpass 400,000 people by 2040,” said Amy Punchard, a member of the 2024 Road Bond Committee, who spoke last week at an event starting the Keep Lubbock Moving campaign supporting the bond.
She listed off the times it takes to get her children to Cooper ISD events.
“Now we have all heard the phrase over-and-over again. You can get anywhere in Lubbock in 15 minutes. But for many of us, that is clearly no longer the case,” she said.
The total is $103.4 million – $93.4 million for the projects and $10 million for inflation over five years.
Related Story: How many times is Proposition A on your ballot in Lubbock? Four Prop A issues ‘could confuse people’ – we explain all four
Special Election, City of Lubbock, Proposition A
Vote For or Against.
The issuance of $103,400,000 general obligation bonds for street improvements and the imposition of taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds.
(Source: Sample ballot, November 5, 2024, election)
There’s no organized opposition, but former mayoral candidate Adam Hernandez said the bond favors City Council Districts 4 and 5 to the exclusion of the other districts.
“More than 80 percent of the streets in this bond proposal are on the far south & southwest edges of the city in districts 4 & 5, but all citizens in every district will pay for it for at least 10 years,” Hernandez said.
Heather Keister, who led the city’s street bond committee, answered, saying, “I believe there’s five other pots of money … being used to address needs in those sections of town. And so, it’s not about dividing every pot of money equally. It’s, ‘Are we using the pots of money we have appropriately and making sure we’re targeting those to the needs in those districts?’”
Street maintenance funding sources:
Keister mentioned five pots of money for street maintenance.
- Street maintenance operations – This is just a normal part of the yearly budget.
- Capital improvement projects – These can sometimes be paid from one time funding sources like extra money in reserve.
- Gateway Fund – This comes from franchise fees that utility companies pay the city to use alleys or streets.
- Community development grants – Only qualified areas can use the grants. But it frees up money the city can then dedicate to street maintenance.
- Bond projects – The 2022 bond included street maintenance, the Manhattan Heights neighborhood, for example. In the 2024 proposal, Keister’s committee recommended not using bonds.
Prop A is also separate from TxDOT – Texas Department of Transportation – projects such as Loop 88 and 19th Street east of University Avenue. (Click here for our previous coverage.)
In 2022, voters approved a $200 million bond for 17 projects – many of which are complete, but some are still ongoing. You can track the progress by clicking here. The city will create a similar page for 2024 projects as well if the bond passes.
Lubbock Lights readers also asked questions on our Facebook page:
- What about East Side street repairs? Keister said, “We don’t feel that maintenance is appropriate in the bond.” Her committee recommended the city should spend more on maintenance, but it needed to come from other sources. During budget talks in August, City Manager Jarrett Atkinson admitted there’s not enough money for yearly maintenance. It’s a problem he’s been working on for several years.
- How can voters be assured the money will not be moved for other uses? The City Council in mid-August passed a resolution to “affirm” its commitment to spending the bond money only on the listed projects. The resolution was to act like a contract with the voters.
- It would help to know more about the projects.
34th Street (from Upland to Alcove)
- Price: $13.6 million
- Length: 1 mile
- Project: From 2-lane to 3-lane, new pavement, drainage and intersection improvements
Keister said this project connects with quite a bit of the 2022 bond including Upland Avenue from 4th Street to 66th and 34th from Upland to Milwaukee Avenue. She said three Frenship schools will benefit from this additional mile of 34th on the city’s west side.
“It really just provides another access point to those schools from a really rapidly developing area of the city. There’s a lot of congestion,” Keister said.
But there’s another problem. This part of 34th has deteriorated.
“Once the pavement gets to a certain point, it’s kind of like lipstick on the pig. You have to just replace it,” Keister said.
146th Street (from University to Avenue P)
- Price: $14.6 million
- Length: 1 mile
- Project: Changes from dirt road to paved three-lanes and improves drainage.
“This one is actually a dirt road next to a built-out subdivision. So, people are trying to take this dirt road to get out … to area schools, and that’s a big cause for concern for a lot of people,” Keister said.
This portion of 146th is needed for safety, she said.
146th Street (from Slide Road to Quaker Avenue)
- Price: $15.3 million
- Length: 1 mile
- Project: Change from two-lanes to three, raise up the roadway, curb & gutter and new drainage.
“This is north of Liberty High School, and it’s gotten to be a pretty routinely used corridor just with all the construction happening north and south of it,” Keister said.
“It’s kind of in a low spot. When we get some rain, it’s not drivable. And it’s one of our key emergency response corridors in the southwest part of town,” she added.
Avenue P (from 130th Street to 146th Street)
- Price: $11.2 million
- Length: 1 mile
- Project: Upgrade from asphalt county road to newly paved two-lane road with drainage and intersection improvements.
“It has a lot of density. So, there’s a ton of traffic. There’s a ton of kids. There’s several schools in that vicinity,” Keister said.
This is one of the worst areas of town for congestion, she said.
Another option would have been University between 130th and 146th. But not all of it is in city limits. Keister said her committee preferred this option.
Broadway (from Avenue Q to Avenue E)
- Price: $16 million
- Length: 0.8 mile
- Project: Rebuild Broadway, replacing bricks with concrete. Modern brick pavers used for intersections and historic bricks preserved for future use.
This was the most controversial of the projects. Some citizens even spoke during public comments at City Council meetings to protest the loss of historic bricks along this portion of Broadway.
The city took a survey last year, Keister said.
“People think it really needs to happen,” she said of rebuilding Broadway. The roadway has become rough over the last 100 years. Portions have been patched back up using historic bricks Lubbock purchased from nearby towns.
The city simply does not have enough Thurber bricks stockpiled for this project because many of them break during the rebuilding process, she said. (Click here to see our previous coverage when the historic bricks lost their legal protection.)
But there’s another problem.
“The majority of people preferred concrete or asphalt over historic brick,” Keister said.
The cost savings of concrete over brick was millions of dollars, her committee found and they asked the city to save as many of the old bricks as possible for other downtown projects.
University Avenue (from 50th Street to S. Loop 289)
- Price: $7.1 million
- Distance: 1.3 miles
- Project: Repave roadway and rework medians.
This might seem like maintenance, but Keister said it’s not.
“This project is to rebuild that road as well as the concrete medians,” Keister said.
The road base under the current seven lanes of paving has not failed yet, but it will so now is the time to rebuild, she said.
Upland Avenue (from 98th Street to 114th Street)
- Price: $15.6 million
- Length: 1 mile
- Project: Upgrade from two-lane road to five-lane thoroughfare, sidewalks and drainage.
This was originally part of a much bigger set of projects from another source – the Metropolitan Planning Organization. A portion of Upland ran out of money, she said.
“It was supposed to be all the way from 66th to 114th,” Keister said.
And the 2022 bond includes Upland from 4th Street down to 66th. When this series of projects are done, you’ll be able to drive Upland from 4th to 114th in some sections as five lanes – others as three.
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