Mesquite — The city’s public‑works director presented a five‑year streets program that concentrates city crews on asphalt repairs where staff can “get the biggest bang for the buck,” while contracting larger concrete reconstruction projects.

Public Works Director Eric (Public Works Director) told council the city will transition from the Real Texas Roads bond program into a multi‑year maintenance program that pairs in‑house asphalt overlays and localized mill‑and‑overlay work with contracted concrete replacements on the oldest concrete streets.

Nut graf: The plan addresses three problems the city faces simultaneously — an aging local street network, historically delayed concrete repairs, and new growth that changes where crews are needed — by ordering work from worst PCI (pavement‑condition index) to better‑condition roads while grouping projects for efficiency.

Key points
- Focus and strategy: Public Works emphasized “worst‑first” PCI targeting for efficiency, pairing neighborhood repairs to limit repeated mobilization costs and using in‑house asphalt overlay capacity for the largest near‑term impact.
- Five‑year targets and budgets: Staff proposed a multi‑track program: ($2.0M/yr) alley reconstruction, ($2.0M/yr) expanded in‑house asphalt paving, and ($5.0M/yr) contracted concrete work for structurally failed streets. Major corridors and bond‑phase completions (LaPrada, Lawson, Galloway resurfacing) are budgeted separately.
- Expected outcomes: The plan is intended to lift low‑PCI roads above critical thresholds over five years; staff said performance will improve faster where asphalt overlays are prioritized and where utility work is coordinated to avoid rework.

Council requests and next steps
- Data transparency: Council asked staff to publish the city’s PCI map and an accessible list showing which roads and alleys are scheduled each year so residents can see why one road is chosen for a year and another is not.
- Funding and coordination: Public Works and finance will present funding tradeoffs tied to the tax‑rate scenarios the council requested: continue current funding (no‑new‑revenue), a voter‑approval increase, or higher revenue that would require an election.

Background details
- End of RTR: Staff reminded the council the Real Texas Roads bond program is winding down and that future work must shift to a combination of operating dollars, new bond allocations, grants and other funds.
- Cost drivers: Public Works highlighted rising material costs and contractor lead times for signals and large components; staff said efficiency gains can be realized by grouping projects and coordinating with utility work.

Ending: The public‑works director said the department will return with a public portal for the PCI inventory and a set of budgeted scenarios that show how many lane‑miles and alleys the city can fix under each tax‑rate scenario the council requested.