LONGVIEW (KYTX) -- The Longview City Council will consider next year's budget at its meeting Thursday night. Part of that $152.2 million dollar budget is road construction funded by a bond voters approved last year. CBS 19's Abby Broyles joins us now from downtown Longview with the latest on the streets bond projects.
A big part of that streets bond project will happen right here in downtown Longview. Construction will happen starting here at the intersection of Whaley and Green Street all the way down to Cotton Street - that project expected to start in October."
The $6 million Green Street project will have downtown Longview under construction over the next year. It's part of the $52.6 million bond election voters approved last year to improve city streets.
"Over the last several years, Longview's downtown has really seen a renovation and a lot of things taking place down there. A few years back we did Tyler street downtown and Fredonia Street, the next project will be Green Street," City spokesman Shawn Hara said.
That means adding landscaping in the area and repaving Green. Drivers may need to take alternate routes because of lane closures. Local business owners we talked to Tuesday said they welcome the improvements.
"I think it'll be a very positive thing for the salon and other small businesses around here," Salon Pink employee Morgan Freeman said.
But they're concerned about how construction right outside their doors will affect parking.
"I'm afraid it might affect our older clientele as far as being able to walk that far, it's going to affect a lot of walk-ins," Freeman said.
Also part of this construction project is raising the overpass at Green Street and Tyler.
"That goes under the railroad tracks there, it's only 10 feet and we've had some clearance issues there in the past with clearance, so they'll be expanding the Green Street underpass from 10 feet to 11 feet," Hara said.
And as traffic picks up across the city, the $5 million intersection project will also start this fall, adding turn lanes to four busy intersections along Hawkins parkway, including highway 259 in Longview's congested and growing east side.
The city has set aside about $600,000 in additional funding for other road projects throughout the city, but city leaders are still deciding where those projects will happen. The City council is expected to approve the budget by the end of August.
Also at Thursday's meeting, city council will talk about where to set the property tax rate as part of the budget proposal. Right now the proposal is to keep it at .5009 percent. That means for a $100,000 home, you can expect to pay about 500 dollars next year.
