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BASTROP — Street work on Water, Linden and Farm streets is coming in under budget, and Bastrop officials recently said the savings may allow more infrastructure upgrades to be completed sooner than planned.
City Manager Sylvia Carrillo-Trevino told council members last month that design work on the streets is about 60% complete and significantly below cost estimates. She said the city is working with contractors to relocate utility lines along Water Street and other areas in need of upgrades, adding that coordinating the work would save money and time.
“We’ve got some pipes bursting. There’s some water lines and wastewater lines along 71 that need to get repaired,” Carrillo-Trevino said. “If I can get those things lined up, we’ll only have mobilization one time, and we’ve got enough funds to go ahead and do all of Water, Farm and Linden that were required.”
According to Carrillo- Trevino, the goal is to have those projects completed by the end of the year. The work will be funded through capital improvement dollars, which city leaders noted were necessary because the streets require full reconstruction.
Mayor Ishmael Harris also asked the city manager to provide a timeline for repairs on smaller streets that residents have flagged.
“I know it feels like we’re only working on the preventive maintenance stuff and we’re ignoring all the others. We’re not,” Carrillo-Trevino said. “It just takes us a little bit of time to review it and engineer it to make sure that when we go and repair that street, I don’t have to touch it again for the life of the street.”
City staff are reportedly updating Bastrop’s website with information on upcoming projects so residents can see when their streets are scheduled for work.
