BY RACHEL LELAND
Project funding
Looking ahead
City comparisons
City staff recommended Pearland invest $5.97 million annually in street repairs to maintain the city’s current PCI score of 74. Despite this, FY 2024-25’s budget, which was approved Sept. 23, included $4.1 million for streets. In its five-year capital improvement program, Pearland officials provide nonbinding recommen- dations on how much money to fund streets. City staff recommended setting aside $44 mil- lion in 2026 to fund larger thoroughfare projects, such as adding additional lanes to Miller Ranch Road, Wingate said.
Despite Pearland’s total road miles growing by 141 miles since 2014, the city’s small streets division has a staff of nine, according to city documents. The team has only enough manpower to conduct minor repairs such as filling potholes, Wingate said. To help, the city approved five new positions in September. The additional staff will start in April and cost the city $267,193, according to the FY 2024-25 budget. By hiring five additional people, the city hopes to provide more thorough repairs such as crack sealing and preventive maintenance. Otherwise, the city could be on the hook to replace entire roads, coming at a higher cost to taxpayers, according to city documents. It takes a six-person team to patch potholes or do an asphalt repair, Wingate said. For larger projects, such as concrete
Total lane miles
Number of street repair employees
Miles of road per one employee
Baytown
756
43
17
Missouri City 600
11
55
Pearland 980
9*
109
Sugar Land 1,200
17
71
*PEARLAND’S EMPLOYEE TOTAL DOESN’T INCLUDE THE FIVE NEW HIRES, WHO WILL START IN APRIL.
SOURCES: CITIES OF BAYTOWN, PEARLAND, MISSOURI CITY AND SUGAR LAND/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Funding for major road projects
repair or repairing a few hundred feet of asphalt road at once, the city needs to hire contractors, Wingate said. “Right now, we don’t have the ability or the staffing, and so honestly we don’t have enough equipment to be able to follow [larger projects],” Wingate said.
2024 2025 2026 2027 2028
$33.77M
$14.33M
$0
$10M $20M $30M $40M $50M
Capital improvement funds
NOTE: THIS CHART DOES NOT INCLUDE STREET REPAIR FUNDING.
SOURCE: CITY OF PEARLAND/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
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PEARLAND - FRIENDSWOOD EDITION
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