Transportation bonds make headlines before November Midterm election

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -Brazos County voters will decide whether to use bonds to address transportation need in the upcoming November Midterm election.

Several transportation bonds are placed on the ballots this year. One being the city of College Station’s proposed $16.1 million dollar transportation bond.

City officials said the project will widen the important Rock Prairie East corridor from Town Lake Drive to William D. Fitch Parkway, transforming the two-lane asphalt roadway into a four-lane concrete road with separated bike lanes and sidewalks along each side. In addition, the project will include a storm sewer, street lighting, and a traffic signal at Town Lake. The changes will increase the capacity of Rock Prairie Road East.

Jennifer Cain, Director of Capital Projects and Facility Management, told KBTX that citizens will need to pay close attention to the proposed transportation bond because it comes with many benefits.

“Right now we have two lanes and then we’ll have four lanes,” Cain said. “Bike lanes, street lighting and a traffic signal will be added to town lake.”

Cain explained that there are five city bonds which equal $90 million dollars. In which won’t raise property taxes.

“There’s enough capacity available so it doesn’t need to increase the taxes so it can accommodate that debt,” Cain said.

Brazos County has two transportation bonds on the ballot as well. Proposition A would approve $100 million dollars worth of construction projects to fix county roads. Proposition B creates a $10 dollar vehicle registration fee to fund Regional Mobility Authority Projects.

Dan Rudge, Executive Director of Bryan-College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization, said if bond B is approved the county would be very prepared in the long run.

“Organizations like the RMA get projects ready to go because then TXDOT can come asking if we have projects to meet their millions of dollars standard for each year,” said Rudge. “Brazos County can raise it’s hand and say we have multiple projects that are ready.”

City officials say the construction projects will take about .88 cents out of your wallet within a year because borrowing money will be the key to making the projects work.

“We don’t have any toll roads to fund RMA operations. That’s what normally funds RMA. So, we’d be the only county in Texas without funding from toll roads,” said Rudge. “We also want people to know we don’t plan to add toll roads here. I mean, if you look around its hard to imagine putting one on any road.”

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