9-Year, $80 Million City of San Angelo Street Rehabilitation Project Begins Jan. 29

Construction to rebuild and rehabilitate MLK Blvd. starts Jan. 29 and Bell Street is next, city officials promise. In addition, many other city streets will receive touch-ups via mill and overlay. This is a review of the City of San Angelo's current plan and schedule for a nine-year, $80 million citywide street rehabilitation project.

At Tuesday's city council meeting, a nine-year street rehabilitation and construction project was presented by Shane Kelton, director of Operations for the City of San Angelo. Based on what the council determined as priorities, the city now has an anticipated schedule for reconstruction, mill-and-overlay, and sealcoating.

With that update, not only did the Council unanimously approve moving forward with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the streets, but they also approved adopting a resolution directing publication of notice of intention to issue combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation to provide the funding for those improvements. That price tag comes to over $80 million dollars over a 10-year period.

Kelton, who provided council with excerpts from a street condition study results generated by consultants Fugro Roadway, Inc., said, “As we move forward, this is the basis for which we will start moving.”

Kelton went over, in detail, a plan based on funding ventures and need, and Martin Luther King Blvd. and Bell Street take priority.

“I want people to realize this is a sort of living, breathing kind of document,” Kelton said about the plan. “Some of this will have the ability to change and move as bids come back in. Whether they’re lower or higher, I will be able to move moneys around a bit.”

Also, if other funding options become available, Kelton said they can “flex” things around a bit.

“We want to stay in this order for the most part,” he added.

Kelton said that, as of now, the city is working with engineers and staff to get accurate information on a calendar. The city is also working on getting that calendar up on its website so people are informed of the street repair process.

"That way they know the timeline we’re working with,” explained Kelton.

As to where they are now, Kelton said, “We’re moving real fast."

City staff developed a list of prioritized roadways for reconstruction and rehabilitation, and the processes includes design and engineering, project letting, contractor meetings and construction for projects anticipated for the first bonding period.

Overall mill and overlay projects include:

• N. Chadbourne St., from Loop 306 to 43^rd St.
• Glenna Dr., from Woodlawn Dr. to Howard St.
• Sunset Dr., from College Hills to Knickerbocker Rd.; from Loop 306 to S. College Hills; from Knickerboker to Foster Rd.
• Southwest Blvd., from Rockbrook to Twin Mountain
• E. Harris St., from N. Abe St. to N. Bell St.
• S. College Hills Blvd., from Loop 306 to Valleyview Blvd.
• N. Chadbourne St., from US Hwy 67 to E. Concho Ave.
• S. Chadbourne St., from W. Ave B to E. Ave L

What this means is, workers will remove just enough thickness to level the surface to a full depth removal so they can layer asphalt to fix the existing surface.

Many of the streets, like Bell St. and MLK Blvd., need complete reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Kelton said MLK Blvd. will be number one since TxDOT dollars are available to make city dollars stretch further. Work on that street will begin Jan. 29. The process will stretch from 6th St. to 29^th St. Thanks to a TxDOT grant, there will be back lanes and sidewalks associated with the project.

“We’re moving ahead,” Kelton stated.

However, Kelton wanted to ensure citizens that Bell St. is next.

“Everyone knows Bell Street has been a bad street for a long time, so that’s next,” he said.

Bell Street will also be broken up into three phases, Kelton said.

“This is such a long project, as far as length of street,” he explained. “There are a tremendous amount of utilities that will have to be replaced as well, so this will be broken up into three segments."

The third phase of Bell Street will be let in Year 3. The segments were based on funding of the project. Workers will start on the south side from Loop 306 to Harris and from Harris to the Rio Concho Dr. Kelton said that can reverse based on the utility. The third phase will occur from the Old Ballinger Hwy to Loop 306.

“Bell Street is a big one, so it’s important people understand it’s a three-phased project,” said Kelton. He also said people have to understand the city didn’t want to tear out a mile and a half of the street, which would affect businesses. That would also mean people would fight torn up streets for three years.

Kelton told council Year One Projects will be done fairly quickly. Other projects for the first year include the overlay of S. College Hills Blvd., from Loop 306 to Valleyview Blvd.; the overlay of N. Chadbourne, from US 67 to E. Concho Ave.; the overlay of S. Chadbourne, from West Avenue B to East Avenue L; and reconstruction of Southland, from Sherwood Way to Wal-Mart/Sam’s.

Due to funding, Kelton said Chadbourne St. also has to be broken down into phases.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Grindstaff, Single-Member District 5, asked Kelton if sidewalks would be included into this project.

“I really hope you all take a really hard look at that,” she said.

Grindstaff said there are a lot of people walking the streets without the proper facilities, and it’s ridiculous.

Kelton said on MLK St. will include all the pedestrian elements since it will be undergoing total reconstruction. In areas with total recon, they will get sidewalks; however, with mill and overlays, there was no discussion about adding them. He did say though that staff will look into a pedestrian plan for the entire city.

Councilman Johnny Silvas, SM3, said when people first read about the overlay of the street and the total reconstruction, they didn’t see Bell in the midst of the overlay so he received a lot of phone calls.

Thus, Silvas wanted to clarify for readers that an overlay versus total reconstruction “are two different animals.”

Kelton said, “The total reconstruction is so intensive that we have to separate that from the overlay project. Rehabilitation is more of a maintenance function.”

Kelton added that Year Nine will finalize the letting process.

“If we see a shift in traffic patterns, as we did, that may change some of this up a little bit depending on traffic patterns,” Kelton added about the entire process.

Councilman Rodney Fleming said he didn’t see the process lasting nine years. He stated he also hoped this plan will remain a focus for the city.

“We’re finally getting a plan together, and finally doing what we should have done years ago," he said. “I hope future councils don’t cut this. This should be the number one item for the future.

To view more of this plan, visit the city's website here.