Broken Arrow Bond Funds Several Projects Since Last Year

Thirteen months after a major bond vote in Broken Arrow, city leaders are working to implement ambitious new projects.

"It's still exciting to think about the fact our voters approved just over $211 million in general obligation bonds,” said Michael Spurgeon, city manager for the city of Broken Arrow.

Spurgeon says since voters approved the bonds in August of 2018, they've been analyzing each approved project from public facilities to parks to roads, and getting them into the construction cycle.

"Which is basically from the time we start thinking about developing the project until we actually cut the ribbon. Which you're looking at design, right-away accusation, utility location and then actually construction,” he said.

Since this bond package does not raise taxes and is over 10 years, the city can only issue a set number of bonds per year, meaning the leaders have to prioritize projects that are needed sooner than others.

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"For us the biggest challenge is just because it passed last year, we have a responsibility to keep talking about what the voters passed, where we are in the package, what we're going to do this year, next year and every subsequent year," said Spurgeon.

So after studies and listening to residents, the city has made some progress on high prioritized projects.

Spurgeon says first they issued contracts for the design of widening County Line Road from 51st to 61st, which will also include a bridge replacement - an area, where they received a lot of complaints.

They also have issued an engineering contract for the high traffic intersection of Aspen and Washington and they've issued contracts to fix some drainage issues on the South side of town.

While the city is still working on road projects from their 2014 bond - improvement projects across the city will be evident for 10 to 11 years to come.

"We're going to get it all done and in the end it's going to make us a better community," said Spurgeon.

To see a list of all of the projects, click here.