Another street bond? Lubbock citizen committee proposes $110M package

A committee of Lubbock citizens tasked with exploring options for a potential upcoming street bond is recommending a $110 million package go to voters in November to pay for a number of road upgrades throughout the city.

The 13-member citizen advisory committee, chaired by local engineer Heather Keister, presented its recommendation to the Lubbock City Council during a special council meeting Wednesday, less than a month after the committee convened. The council is expected to take action Tuesday.

Keister detailed 10 projects the committee recommends for a November bond election. The recommendation, as presented, totals about 10 miles and includes the downtown section of Broadway and a neighborhood rebuild in South Overton, all at a cost of $100 million, with $10 million budgeted for inflation.

Other projects include a rebuild of University Avenue from 50th Street to Loop 289, repairs to Quaker Avenue from Fourth to 19th streets, and several road segments in south and southwest Lubbock.

The table below lists all of the committee's recommended projects and their costs.

Keister said the committee whittled down the selected projects from a list of anticipated needs initially totaling $300 million, aiming to address the city's rapid growth while focusing on the most pressing roadway issues from a safety standpoint.

"We've identified these priority growth-driven projects with safety being the priority for all of them," Keister told the council.

But not everyone was happy with the recommendations. Mayor Pro Tem Christy Martinez-Garcia, who represents north Lubbock's District 1, said she feels her district was overlooked in the proposal.

"Just like the last bond (in 2022) I was not happy, I am not going to lie and say I'm happy," Martinez-Garcia said. "I feel like District 1 is still not getting enough."

Adam Hernandez of Lubbock Compact served on the 2022 bond citizen committee but was not appointed to the 2024 committee. During the citizen comment portion of the meeting, he echoed concerns the suggestions are not equitable.

"This street bond needs to go back to the committee," Hernandez said. "75% (of the projects) go to districts 4, 5 and 6. … Just on its face, that's not fair to the citizens of this city who are all going to have to pay this, regardless of where they live. This needs to be looked at in a way that's more equitable across the city.

"Jackson-Mahon neighborhood, which is next on the list in terms of condition, you could have redone all of the streets in Jackson-Mahon for just one of these projects."

The committee suggested $2 million for the neighborhood rebuild project in South Overton, though they did not specify particular streets or projects to tackle. A similar neighborhood project for Dunbar-Manhattan Heights, which passed in the 2022 bond, allocated $5 million for street rebuilds.

"So we're short $3 million," Martinez-Garcia said. "In South Overton … there are some very serious concerns. I have intersections that have been neglected. I have brick streets that have been patched. There are so many needs."

"I don't see how that's equitable."

Keister responded to the concerns of inequity, stating debt funding should be used for larger rebuild or expansion projects and not routine maintenance. Cash funding would be used for those maintenance needs, she said.

"Our committee didn't feel that street maintenance should be bonded, which is why there is that discrepancy in the recommendations," Keister said.

Broadway recommendation nixes some historic bricks

The committee's recommendation includes a complete rebuild of the portion of Broadway that runs though the heart of downtown, but excludes the use of the existing historic bricks for that project. Instead, the committee recommends the use of concrete and new brick pavers from Avenue Q to Avenue E, moving the historic bricks elsewhere.

New red-colored brick pavers would go in the intersections and crosswalks, while the driving lanes would be paved in concrete, per the committee's suggestion. The committee also said the council could opt to use historic bricks in the intersection by increasing the cost of the project by $3 million.

Keister said that this section of Broadway was prioritized as the first in the interest of downtown revitalization, but chose to nix the bricks due to concerns over safety and its future lifespan and maintainability.

"Our view is that the city has completed the public and stakeholder input needed for Broadway, and it is time to begin addressing the Broadway needs," Keister said. "In my opinion, we will never reach unanimous opinion on what to do with Broadway. I acknowledge that; our whole committee acknowledges that. We were trying to make the best decision we could with the information everyone has."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock citizen committee proposes $110M street bond package