Bridge City experiencing new progress and growth

As you drive around your neighborhoods and city streets and highways, you no doubt notice some work going on throughout Bridge City and wonder what is taking place. Well, let me fill you in on some of what’s been happening over the last few months and some things you can expect to see in the next few months. Then I’ll share some exciting news on something that is coming real soon!

Our City crews have been busy lately, working on a number of projects. The Water & Sewer department has been busy getting water and sewer service ready for all the new houses that are going up around town. In September and October new services were installed for approximately 30 new homes. Our contractors are replacing old and leaking sewer yard lines through a grant program that helps defray those installation costs and reduce wastewater treatment costs. The crews are methodically changing out non-functioning electronic water meter transmitters to help us keep our meter reading costs down.

The Streets & Drainage folks are equally busy. They have been working diligently to keep our ditches and culverts clean so they are more effective during rain events. In the last two months, they have cleaned over 2000 feet of ditches and over 800 feet of culverts. The crews have also set over 800 feet of new culverts and mowed over 2000 feet of ditches. Street & Drainage crews have been demolishing sub-standard and abandoned houses and other buildings as we get the legal clearances in place. One of these you might have noticed is the old nursing home on Meadowlawn.

At City Hall, we hope you have had the opportunity to use our drive-through teller for paying your water bills and receiving other services. We recognized the need for this equipment early in the COVID-19 pandemic and used some emergency grant funding to help the public and our employees practice social distancing during the outbreak. The safety of this has been very well received by our citizens, and many people say they will continue to use it for its convenience as well. With all the new homes going up, the Planning and Development folks and building inspectors have been working diligently to keep things moving for this new construction for our citizens.

A major project that is going to affect us in the coming months is the TxDOT project to widen West Roundbunch/FM1442 from FM408 to FM105. There will also be a continuous turning lane installed to assist traffic flow into and out of our neighborhoods and enhance driving safety along the route. Construction is expected to begin sometime in the spring.

Coming again this year the Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Christmas Parade on the evening of Saturday December 4th. This year’s theme is broad and simple: “Texas”. I encourage individuals, businesses, and civic organizations to enter a float in the parade, especially one that is theme-based. Contact the Chamber for an application and other information. There is also the “Mayor’s Trophy” and a $200 prize that goes to the entry judged to be “Best in Theme”.

Now here’s something you definitely don’t want to miss! For the first time, Bridge City is having “Christmas in the Park”. This will take place the day before the parade on Friday, December 3rd beginning at 5:00 pm. We’ll have school choir children singing Christmas carols at the pavilion. There will be vendor booths in the Community Center and library parking lots with all kinds of arts and crafts, food and drinks, and other entertainment. Around 6:30 pm we will light a beautiful 23 feet tall Christmas tree near the pavilion. For vendor booth information, contact City Hall at 735-6801. This event is being run by volunteers who answered the call to bring this to our citizens. If you’d like to help, please contact City Hall.

I’ll update you again next month on more happenings around Bridge City. I urge you to make plans to come out to “Christmas in the Park” and the Christmas Parade. You still have time to get a booth for the tree lighting and to build a float for the parade. These are definitely events you won’t want to miss!