Grand Prairie plans $8.2 million in road work

by Kirk Dickey of of Grand Prairie TODAY

City councilmembers are set to approve a multi-million dollar slate of road and alley improvements across the city.

Street Services Manager Ronnie Bates made a presentation on the street sales tax program to the council Jan. 6 and said the city plans to repair 29 “C” and “D” rated streets this year, the most it has ever fixed in a single year. The street repairs are expected to cost $8.2 million.

The money for the repairs comes from a 7-year-old voter-approved sales tax.The city will put the tax up for reelection this May, but Bates said the results show that the fund is worth it.

The city rates streets with four grades and the city's “A” and “B” rated streets are at 73.5 percent this year. Last year it was about 68 percent, which itself was an improvement from the 60 percent “A/B” rating when the program started.

The city has decreased “D” listings from 48 to 25 in the past year. In 2007, there were 61 city streets with that lowest rating. In 2004, the city had 97.

“We are steadily knocking off the D list streets,” Bates said.

“D” streets up for repair are: Avenue J, from the railroad tracks to the city limits; Sunnyvale Road from Duncan Perry to Great Southwest Parkway; Austrian Road from Camelot to British; NW 18th Street from Main to Dalworth; NE 25th Street from Main to Graham; Peek Street from Grand Prairie Road to Brannon; Center Street from Skyline to Gramley; Glynn Circle from SW 3rd to the dead end; Cambridge Place from Carrier Parkway to Wellington; Oxford Circle from Windsor to Huntington; Las Palmas Drive from Bueno Vista to La Fiesta; W. Ferndale Lane from Gregory to Grenoble; Pinehill Lane from Timberview to Timberdale; Overland Trail from Santa Fe Trail. to Lano Trail; and Spring Creek Circle from Seeton to Seeton.

“C” streets proposed for repair are: Lake Park Drive from Parkvale to Warrior Trail; Edelweiss Drive from Campfire to Greentree; Forum Drive from Mayfield to Sedona; Westchase Drive from east of Chili's to Dechman; S. Carrier Parkway from I-20 to Bardin; Ernie Lane from Dorothy to Matthew Road; Vineyard Road from Matthew to I-20 service road; Lakeridge Parkway from the first bridge to Grand Peninsula; Arlington Webb Britton from Grand Way to England Parkway; Egyptian Way from Duncan Perry to Wedgewood; Hill Street from Carrier Parkway to NW 7th; Walnut Street from NE 15th to NE 17th; NE 27th Street from Main to Graham; and SE 14th Street from Christy to Bogarte.

Bates boss Ron McCuller said the city will stick to the $8.2 million street repair budget and hopes to be able to repair all those streets fully, but will not know for sure if it can until the repairs are underway.

“When we get involved with (fixing) these streets, we don't really know what it's going to cost until we get down in the sub-base and see what we can do with it,” he said, adding the city might forced to cut some roads from the list or, if the repairs are easier than expected, add more streets to it.

Also up for repair are five alleys in the city, with $500,000 budgeted for them. Alleys are graded like the streets and four of the alleys being repaired are “D” grade. The alleys are: Church Street from NW 7th to NW 8th; Tarrant Road from Tarrant Road to Carrier Parkway; Montana Trail from Aberdean to Silver; Aberdean Trail from Clark to Sandra; Sierra Drive from Sierra Drive to Sonora Lane.

The city also is proposing $200,000 in pavement leveling at 37 sites around the city. The leveling process includes injecting a special hardening foam under the streets and raising them up at lowered points that are collecting water and creating hazards.