Tag Archives: Amarillo streets

local news

Motorists require extreme patience

One of my few virtuous traits is getting tested to the hilt.

That would be patience, the kind I usually exhibit while I’m driving a motor vehicle through my city, Amarillo, Texas.

I came home today from across town. It took me far longer than it used to take. Why is that? The first cause would be obvious: growth in population and motor vehicles on our city streets. The second cause is construction, lots and lots of road construction.

There once was a time when I joked that Amarillo didn’t have a morning and early-evening “rush hour.” I called it a “rush minute.” You could get anywhere in Amarillo in less than 20 minutes. That’s how it used to be in the mid-1990s when my wife and I arrived here.

We had a house built in southwest Amarillo. Our property was literally one block from the western border of the city. There was nothing west of Coulter Street … except for pasture and the cattle that grazed on it. The summer sunsets were spectacular, as we could watch the sun dip just below the horizon very late in the day.

Then the Greenways housing development sprang up. Boom! Like that we witnessed urban sprawl develop in real time right before our eyes.

Now the highways are being rebuilt. Interstate 40 east of the Canyon E-Way interchange is a serious mess. The interchange itself is being modernized and brought up to date with a direct-access ramp for eastbound I-40 traffic onto the southbound E-Way.

Patience, anyone?

Well, I’m going to cling desperately to what remains of my very own level of patience. Pray for me, if you please. I’ll do the same for you.

local news

Streets need work all over Amarillo

Amarillo_Tx_-_Brick_Streets

“SHALL the City Council of the City of Amarillo, Texas, be authorized to issue general obligation bonds of the City in the principal amount of $89,495,000 for permanent public improvements and public purposes, to wit:  acquiring, constructing, improving and maintaining streets, thoroughfares, alleyways and sidewalks within the City including related storm drainage improvements, traffic signalization and signage, street lighting, traffic management equipment, creek erosion, bridge and culvert improvements and utility relocations and the acquisition of land therefor, such bonds to mature serially or otherwise over a period not to exceed twenty-five (25) years from their date, to be issued and sold in one or more series at any price or prices and to bear interest at any rate or rates (fixed, floating, variable or otherwise) as shall be determined within the discretion of the City Council at the time of issuance or sale of the bonds; and whether ad valorem taxes shall be levied upon all taxable property in the City sufficient to pay the annual interest and provide a sinking fund to pay the bonds at maturity?”

Proposition 1 on the Nov. 8 Amarillo municipal ballot

Those of us who drive motor vehicles need streets that don’t rattle us as we make our way across our city.

Am I overstating the importance of this issue? I don’t think so.

Proposition 1 on the city’s municipal ballot on Nov. 8 is the most expensive single item to be decided by the city’s voters.

The price tag exceeds $89 million.

Streets have become a significant gripe among many of the city’s 200,000 residents. Proposition 1 seeks to repair the city streets.

Major arterials will be repaved. Streets in every quadrant will be repaired. The city plans to advance construction along Helium Road as the state transportation department plans to extend Loop 335 beyond Soncy Road.

http://amarillo.gov/pdf/CIP_list_for_ballot_resolution.pdf

The city also plans improvements to its street signalization. I totally and wholeheartedly endorse this idea, given the nonsensical delays motorists often face at intersections. I have one specific request: Remove the traffic signal coming out of the driveway at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, which often turns red on Buchanan Street, stopping motorists for no reason.

The city is putting seven of these propositions on the ballot. Voters will be asked to vote on them individually. If they all pass, then the city will do all the projects.

Street repair and rehabilitation are vital to our city’s health and well-being. This proposition puts forward a significant investment toward that end.

It is my hope that Proposition 1 gets the voters’ wholehearted endorsement.