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Why are some streets in bad shape, and what’s being done to fix them?
The Problem: Our city has been growing fast—about 10% each year in recent years. Today, we have 8,600 lane miles of streets, which is about the same amount of pavement as a 3-lane highway stretching across the entire U.S.
But as our street system has grown, the cost of construction has also gone up—by about 73% in recent years. At the same time, our maintenance budget hasn’t kept up. This means many streets don’t get repaired in time, which only makes the problems worse and more expensive later.
In 2025, the city spent $38 million on maintenance, which only covered about 80 lane miles. Current funding only repairs around 1% of our streets per year. Multiple studies show that we actually need about $98 million each year just to keep the streets from getting worse.
Without enough maintenance funding, more streets will slip into poor condition, and once they’re too far gone, they cost several times more to rebuild than to maintain.
Street Work Type
Typical Cost per Lane-Mile
Preservation - Keep Good Streets Good
$8,000 - $28,000
Maintenance - Fix Problems Early
$200,000 - $600,000
Reconstruction - Rebuild Failed Streets
$2.5 million - $5 million
Looking For A Solution: To keep our streets in good condition and save taxpayer money long-term, the city needs to increase the annual maintenance budget from $38 million to $98 million. That means finding an additional $59 million each year.
The city is currently evaluating a combined approach, using the following funding sources.
Property Tax – This is our current source of street maintenance funding, but the current property tax rate is insufficient to cover the full $59 million gap.
Street Maintenance Fee (Transportation User Fee) – Some Texas cities already use this. It works like a utility bill (similar to water or stormwater fees). This would be a small fee to supplement manageable property tax increases.
It's important to have an approach that allows us to fund the gap quickly because every year that maintenance is under-funded the problem grows and costs escalate quickly. That's why the City is looking at a “Combined Approach”—a mix of gradually increasing the portion of property taxes used for streets and adding a Street Maintenance Fee. This would provide stable funding without requiring a big tax rate hike, and it would spread the cost more fairly across residents and businesses.
A consultant is already funded in the 2026 budget to design a fee program for consideration next year.
Why are some streets in bad shape, and what’s being done to fix them?
The Problem: Our city has been growing fast—about 10% each year in recent years. Today, we have 8,600 lane miles of streets, which is about the same amount of pavement as a 3-lane highway stretching across the entire U.S.
But as our street system has grown, the cost of construction has also gone up—by about 73% in recent years. At the same time, our maintenance budget hasn’t kept up. This means many streets don’t get repaired in time, which only makes the problems worse and more expensive later.
In 2025, the city spent $38 million on maintenance, which only covered about 80 lane miles. Current funding only repairs around 1% of our streets per year. Multiple studies show that we actually need about $98 million each year just to keep the streets from getting worse.
Without enough maintenance funding, more streets will slip into poor condition, and once they’re too far gone, they cost several times more to rebuild than to maintain.
Street Work Type
Typical Cost per Lane-Mile
Preservation - Keep Good Streets Good
$8,000 - $28,000
Maintenance - Fix Problems Early
$200,000 - $600,000
Reconstruction - Rebuild Failed Streets
$2.5 million - $5 million
Looking For A Solution: To keep our streets in good condition and save taxpayer money long-term, the city needs to increase the annual maintenance budget from $38 million to $98 million. That means finding an additional $59 million each year.
The city is currently evaluating a combined approach, using the following funding sources.
Property Tax – This is our current source of street maintenance funding, but the current property tax rate is insufficient to cover the full $59 million gap.
Street Maintenance Fee (Transportation User Fee) – Some Texas cities already use this. It works like a utility bill (similar to water or stormwater fees). This would be a small fee to supplement manageable property tax increases.
It's important to have an approach that allows us to fund the gap quickly because every year that maintenance is under-funded the problem grows and costs escalate quickly. That's why the City is looking at a “Combined Approach”—a mix of gradually increasing the portion of property taxes used for streets and adding a Street Maintenance Fee. This would provide stable funding without requiring a big tax rate hike, and it would spread the cost more fairly across residents and businesses.
A consultant is already funded in the 2026 budget to design a fee program for consideration next year.
