HSB Council: Paving streets cost lot more

December 13, 2012, 10:00 pm by Alexandria Randolph

In a Horseshoe Bay Council meeting Tuesday, City Manager Stan Farmer presented a streets project update that showed a cost increase of about 40 percent.

Originally approved by the council Feb. 15, 2011, the Street Improvement Plan covered improvements of 50 miles of street at an estimated cost of $16.8 million with a completion date between five to six years.

The project officially began in September 2011. The Fairways, South subdivisions, and Lighthouse Drive have been completed while the area east of Ferguson Road and north of RR 2147 is currently under contract with nearly a third complete — a total of about 39 percent of the plan.

"We expected to learn a lot as the project progressed, and we have,” Farmer said in a prepared statement to the council. "The decision to tie in the new streets to existing driveways resulted in some challenges and additional cost.”

Farmer went on to say in statement that while the initial estimate was $16.8 million, the present estimate is between $22 and 24 million, a 40 percent increase from the original estimate.

For more on this story, see Friday's Highlander.