Come Enjoy Driving Down the Smoothest Street in San Angelo

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — If you drive down Martin Luther King Blvd. north of the Houston Harte today you will experience the City of San Angelo’s first accomplishment in its 10-year, $80 million street improvement program.

MLK Blvd. is about 95 percent complete, said City Councilman Harry Thomas in an exclusive interview Saturday afternoon.

The MLK project was scheduled first for reconstruction because the City applied for, and received, a federal grant to pay for it. The project re-built the roadway of MLK from Houston Harte Expy. to W. 29th St.

Generally, there are three degrees of street repair. MLK Blvd. was completely re-constructed. That means the City moved and replaced water lines underneath while completely removing the old pavement and then replacing it with new construction.

A close-up of the brand new road construction on MLK Blvd. in San Angelo on Jan. 6, 2017. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)

Above: A close-up of the brand new road construction on MLK Blvd. in San Angelo on Jan. 6, 2017. (LIVE! Photo/Joe Hyde)

A “mill and overlay” is less expensive, but involves repaving with an overlay over the existing street’s base.

Sealcoating is primarily a maintenance function. Thomas estimates streets need to be re-sealcoated every seven years, on average.

The re-construction of MLK began in the fall of 2016. As of today, January 6, 2018, the street is open in all lanes. Painting the lanes and finishing the sidewalks are yet to be completed.

Thomas said the reconstruction of Bell St., which is in his Single Member District, is likely to begin in the summer of this year and last about 36 months. Two obstacles prevented the City for moving forward with Bell sooner, even while Bell St. has become the poster child of all San Angelo street condition complaints. The first obstacle was the City legal team had to work out property easement rights. Then, he said, the City attempted to piecemeal the project into three phases, each with a smaller price tag. That only attracted one construction company to bid on the first phase of the project.

The City rejected that bid and launched a new Request for Proposals (RFP) process for the entire project, from Rio Concho Dr. north to beyond the Houston Harte. With the larger price tag, Thomas said the City is hoping more companies will bid on the $10-12 million project.

Thomas expects Council to approve the winning bid in February. Most of the street improvements city-wide are financed with $16 million loans, or certificates of obligation issued every other year. Sealcoating is paid out of an annual streets maintenance line item in the City budget.

The driving experience on MLK Blvd. is a real, tangible example of the success of the City’s ongoing $80 million street repair program. Go drive down it and enjoy the smooth ride. After all we all paid for it!

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...just please ignore the dive bars where people get shot and the drug dealings at the park.....

So how did we manage to get a smooth street in town ? Obviously must have found someone other
than Reese Albert to build it then if that is a fact........
Oh and yeah, there's just a teeny tiny bit of misleading information in this article too. It states that the
"CITY" moved and replaced water lines underneath the roadway before construction of the street was
made. The fact of the matter is, yes the city owns equipment, has a complete workforce that is paid a
city pay check and titled as street and bridge, however they didn't lift a finger for this project. Even having
our own employees and equipment to do this work, we kept them all on the payroll but paid an enormous
sum of money to some other private contractor to do all that work.................

How fitting that the smoothest street in San Angelo is one nobody wants to go down...... How about fixing 87? It is like driving down a ranch road .

Who ever thinks article titles should be amusing is not a good writer--"Come Enjoy Driving Down the Smoothest Street in San Angelo". Is this street a roller coaster or an event that requires a parade!!!!! Having good paved streets should be the norm for San Angelo. All streets in San Angelo need work from Bell St. to College Hills. Lets just say all streets need work. While the old Mayor was wearing his cowboy hat with the snake skin band and past city council not doing much, the city's problems have now blown to be severe crisis. The Oil Boom brought in some money that was wasted on obtaining bids, surveys, and more paper work. Now there is No money in the budget. So the city over taxes their citizens with High appraisals on homesteads and vacant land. Two affordable housing complexes reserved for seniors are being built in the city but this does not bring in revenue. About 17 percent of San Angelo’s population is Social Security-eligible, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Senior citizens are not spending money but making their money last their life time. Remember the government is cutting back of paying for health services so hospitals/clinics beware. Cities need young people who work and bring in money. New restaurants are not the lifeline as employees get paid minimum wages. What does an average meal cost?

Now maybe if one invites large companies to "Come Enjoy Driving Down the Smoothest Street in San Angelo" that they will invest in our city.

live, Sun, 01/07/2018 - 12:40
Several inaccuracies. Under Mayor Morrison, the City for the first time in a decade budgeted $4 million a year to maintaining ongoing street maintenance. We hadn't had a street maintenance crew for about a decade. The street study and plan were necessary. The City is a $140 million (annual revenue) business. The more bulletproof the plan, the better. Morrison didn't like hiring consultants, either. He acquiesced, however, by saying that having a third party prioritize what streets should be repaired first minimized the politics of street repair. San Angelo's street problem is estimated to have an $80 million solution. This City government is not alone. In Abilene, their street problem is being solved with a $100 million+ solution. City tax rate freezes or reductions over the past 10-12 years were not unique to just San Angelo. Your appraisal is caused by the State of Texas, not the City of San Angelo. Besides, most of the tax money (de facto rent) you are paying for the property you own goes to the school district, not the City or County. Street maintenance is expensive and is a gigantic target. When Councilman Lane Carter led the charge to increase police salaries in mid-2017, City staff made that work by raiding the $4 million annual street repair budget in increase the SAPD payroll. I don't know what to do about old people. Though, you have to admit that the entertainment venues and events have seen a dramatic increase, and there aren't just old folks enjoying the ride. Go try to drive down S. Chadbourne downtown on a Friday or Saturday night. As for the headline, well... It's Pulitzer material. Maybe we should nominate it. (I may have the $4 million figure off a little, but it's pretty big)
Lazy T, Sun, 01/07/2018 - 17:13

Dear John: The streets in San Angelo have always been a sore spot. I recall a story about traveling over the Oak street bridge and because the pavement was so rough, doors on an ambulance shook open and a stretcher fell out. Of course there was no one on there, and the doors should never have popped open, but still...the pavement in San Angelo has been a source of contention since it was first put down. I remind you again of that slurry seal experiment multi million dollar machine operated by seven dollar an hour worker...putting grooves in Beauregard and Sherwood Way that once a wheel was in there, you wound up in Mertzon before you could get out of it. I think it is clear that a street improvement project would !. cost a lot of money, and 2, fuel a civil war over where to start. Not too many politicos want that hot potato.

I drove down it and it is smooth! Too bad I was the only car on it. Bell St has more traffic in an hour than MLK has in a month. Why would anyone in their right mind fix MLK before Bell St? City Mayor and Councilmen should have to drive down Bell 4 times a day in their personal vehicles everyday!!!

Lazy T, Thank you for you posting. The ambulance was very fitting. San Angelo has a history of road problems.

Mr Hyde, I appreciate your voice. The matter is that "the Buck Stops Here" is appropriate for those responsible for the city within the years they hold office. Politicians should understand that whatever happens in their watch, will surely reflect upon the career in office and after. The items mention are things the Citizens of San Angelo are dealing with and they do not care if the City, the State, or the Government is responsible. Citizens just want a solution. Do not want to be taxed to death. Lets have a vibrant city with jobs and healthy living.

The only problem is the city spent all that money on this “new road” and it’s just a rough as it was before! This city council needs to get there shit together and actually fix something before they expect to get praised for it.

I should have been more specific by stating that if a neighborhood has an alley, "use it". Those neighbors with no alley, of course trash needs to be pick up front. The problem becomes when people leave the trash can in the street at all times. Then it becomes an object that impedes traffic and postman. It is a case-by-case situation. Many folks had nice enclosed fence sites for their trashcans up front and in the back but can no longer be used by the large green and brown plastic. I understand the cans are heavy to move and many elderly citizens do not have the strength. The city should have known that will 18% of San Angeloans being senior citizens.

The answer is not *use it*, but if the city will LET us use it. I have an alley, but per the city, I have to put my cans out front because the huge trucks cannot navigate the alley. As far as I know, the only alleys that are useable are those in Southland (wide and paved).

I too have an alley and will use it. The Trash company only picks up one way leaving me out so as to have to put my trash can up front in the street. So what I do is move my trash can in the other side of the alley where it gets picked up. I am not happy about doing that. The Trash truck should take turns coming down the alley from one direction to the other. Are we not all paying taxes.

I like driving around the new city hall annex, the road is not bad either. But stay away from the New Performing Arts Center. The street has many blind spots, not to mention what is across the street.

No need to "stay away". Just be mindful of the surroundings and it has no more blind spots than any other one-way street in San Angelo. As far as what's across the street, it's a shame that our society needs the Family Shelter and the Salvation Army, but since we do, we should embrace those organizations rather than avoid them.

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