Ashley Kontnier
BUDA — Over the last five years, construction costs have risen 25-40%, leaving Buda City Council with decisions on how to move forward with the 2021 Buda Bond projects, while remaining within the budget.
At its Tuesday, June 16 meeting, council was presented with a historical look at the bond process by Capital Improvements Program (CIP) manager Austin Messerli.
Beginning with the city’s 2020 Transportation and Mobility Master Plan (TMMP), Messerli explained that, at this time, the three biggest projects in Proposition A — Old Black Colony Road reconstruction, Austin Street reconstruction and West Goforth Road reconstruction — were “just lines on a map,” with limited detail.
High-level planning cost estimates were also included in the TMMP at the following amounts:
• Old Black Colony Road reconstruction: $6.1 million
• Austin Street reconstruction: $2.4 million
• West Goforth Road reconstruction: $5.9 million
These estimates would be low, compared to later bond projections and, ultimately, actual construction costs: “We didn’t necessarily know all the details about what these projects may be when they grow up,” Messerli said.
After the bond was approved, the city moved into preliminary design, which included public outreach.
“There’s two ways that you can really take approaches with projects. Both have their positives and negatives. You can just say, ‘Hey, these are the projects; they are voted on and approved by citizens. This is what we are going to do,’” the CIP manager explained. “I am proud to say Buda takes a little bit of a different approach. We like to listen, adopt and incorporate from what our public says, what our bond committee says, as well as what this city council says.”
The negative to this approach, he continued, is that it takes time to incorporate feedback.
The additional time taken, along with the number of major construction projects happening in Central Texas, has also resulted in a substantial increase in construction costs since 2021.
Given all of these factors, the current status of each project, along with funding amounts and projections, is as follows:
West Goforth Road
Total funding available: $20,755,326
Status: 60% design
Total projected costs: $26,176,326, of which $20,702,278 is construction costs
Austin Street
Total funding available: $6,713,206
Status: 60% design
Total projected costs: $8,588,389, of which $6,908,563 is construction costs
Old Black Colony Road
Total funding available: $23,833,868
Status: 60% design, nearing 90%
Total projected costs: $26,887,804, of which $22,694,852 is construction costs (includes signal at 1626)
“Overall, in Proposition A, the really, really bad news is you are short $7 million,” said Angellia Points, senior project/program manager for WSB Engineering. “But I’m going to share two things of good news: one, we have a plan and that’s what we are presenting to you tonight because we want to get all of these projects done. The second good news I bring you is that many of these bond projects that are already in green, they are coming in at or under the funding that you do have.”
Of the 16 projects in the bond, she continued, 11 of them have met the funding or have excess funds to move around.
“To our recommendation, knowing that we have three big transportation projects [and] we can’t construct all of them. So, we can sit and say, ‘Well, we’ll just wait for more money to fall out of the sky’ or we’ve worked together to come up with a recommendation that really maximizes the amount of money we have to construct some of these projects,” said Messerli.
The recommendation by staff was to finish the design, obtain rights-of-way and easements and construct all of Old Black Colony Road and Austin Street.
However, for West Goforth Road, the recommendation was to finalize design, obtain rights-of-way and easements and reconstruct a portion — from South Loop 4/Main Street to approximately Bonita Vista Drive — which consists of approximately 44% of the entire road and overlaps with drainage improvements with Project Area 1B. Remaining funds would be reallocated to Old Black Colony Road and Austin Street to fully fund those projects based on current projected costs.
Following discussion, council member Matt Smith motioned to approve staff’s recommendation as presented, which was seconded by Monica Davidson. The motion passed 6-0. LaVonia Horne-Williams was not in attendance.
To listen to the full discussion, visit bit.ly/4oGNIMS.
