With an estimated $90 million needed annually to fully fund necessary street repairs across the city, Fort Worth City Council members have emphasized a desire to strategically prioritize street maintenance projects for the 2026 bond program.
“Every dollar we have that can be going to streets really does need to be going to streets,” council member Charlie Lauersdorf said during a June 3 bond meeting.
The sentiment comes as city officials continue the monthslong process to draft a proposed $800 million bond program to fund various infrastructure projects across the city over the span of several years. The bond is currently divided into five recommended propositions: streets and mobility infrastructure, parks and open space, public libraries, public safety, and animal care and shelter facilities. Propositions appear as separate items on the ballot for a bond election.
City staff told council members they’re targeting $96.56 million, a little more than 12% of the total bond amount, for minor street repairs. Those dollars would fund maintenance for nearly 39 lane miles, or less than 0.5% of the city’s 8,100-plus lane miles.
The proposed 2026 funding is a roughly $10 million increase from the dollars allocated for street repairs in the 2022 bond program — but a decrease of about 9.5 lane miles. The 2018 bond allocated $62.5 million for 53 lane miles.
“The number of lane miles continues to go down, while the cost continues to go up,” said newly elected council member Deborah Peoples. “We’ve gotta get our hands around that so that the costs don’t continue to go up because we’re going to reach a point where we’re not going to be able to catch up at all.”
What is a municipal bond?
Bond elections allow voters to decide whether governmental entities, in this case the city of Fort Worth, may borrow millions to billions of dollars from investors in exchange for interest payments and the eventual repayment of the original debt amount. The borrowed money must be spent on specific infrastructure projects across the city, such as street improvements and public facilities renovations.
To prioritize needed street repairs across the city, staff divide lane miles into categories:
Need reconstruction: About 1,880 lane miles, or 23% of the total, are beyond the point of maintenance and in need of total reconstruction.
Need maintenance: About 3,550 lane miles are in need of general maintenance, which uses a dedicated fund called PayGo, or Pay As You Go.
Need preservation: About 3,200 lane miles are in need of preservation to proactively avoid heavy maintenance.
From those three categories, city staff identify priority streets to include in the bond by homing in on minor roadways. They prioritize specific streets by ranking their PCI, or pavement condition index, and gathering input from council members on the streets in their specific districts.
Of the 10 council districts, 9 and 11 have the most roads with a PCI score of less than 50 out of 100. District 9 includes downtown, the West 7th entertainment district and other parts of central Fort Worth. District 11 includes a strip of east and southeast Fort Worth.
Council members across the dais differed in their strategy to prioritize street maintenance, with some suggesting nixing or reducing funding to other bond projects, such as open space preservation and public art. Other council members cautioned against those reductions, saying the bond program may be the only opportunity to allocate funds to such projects.
District 9 council member Elizabeth Beck said the proposed funding for street repairs in each district should reflect each district’s level of need. She noted that the $6.45 million staff recommended for her district’s street repairs is far less than recommendations for other districts she believes face less need.
Beck questioned funding allocations for other bond projects, including open space preservation, an effort Mayor Mattie Parker has prioritized with Good Natured, her 2023 initiative aimed at preserving 10,000 acres of open land by 2030.
Referencing a council handout, Beck said the proposed funding for open space preservation increased by $10 million since the last time council members met to discuss the bond program. She wants to see open space funding revert to $15 million, the amount allocated in the 2022 bond program, and would look to reinvest that extra $10 million in street improvements.
Parker disagreed with Beck, saying the city must act quickly to preserve land before it’s too late. She said she was open to continuing conversations around the funding amount.
“We’re growing so rapidly. This land will be gone before we can preserve it,” Parker said.
Lauersdorf suggested reducing or cutting funding for public art, saying council members need to differentiate “nice to have” projects from “need to have” improvements like street repairs. He described it as a “slap in the face” to residents to allocate dollars for public art when street repairs are a common and top concern among residents. Currently, the five bond propositions each include a small allocation for public art projects.
Peoples, whose district covers much of far east Fort Worth and the historic Stop Six neighborhood, cautioned against Lauersdorf’s suggestion. She said public art makes Fort Worth attractive and is a factor in attracting new residents.
“If we take from those pots and put it in the other, we’re starting to diminish the things that make our city so attractive to people and why they want to move here,” Peoples said.
City Manager Jay Chapa said he plans to finish drafting the bond program in June so staff can kick off public engagement opportunities in July. After residents are able to offer input, staff will take a final list of proposed projects to City Council for approval in December. Council members are expecting to formally call the bond election in January 2026.
Voters have the final say on whether Fort Worth will assume the proposed $800 million debt, with the ability to approve or vote down individual bond propositions on the ballot. The bond election is set for May 2026.
Council members plan to meet June 17 for their next bond workshop, where they’ll discuss funding allocations for open space preservation, public art and housing affordability.
Cecilia Lenzen and Drew Shaw are government accountability reporters for the Fort Worth Report. Contact them at [email protected] and [email protected].
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