Lookout Road upgrades in Selma delayed by state permit system

Lookout Road itself runs through a few cities including Selma.

The Selma part of the road runs from Schertz Parkway all the way down just before Gateway Boulevard near Loop 1604.

Back in 2018, the city upgraded the northern portion of Lookout Road in Selma from Schertz Parkway to one side of the driveway in front of River City Community Church.

The main lanes were redone and bike lanes and sidewalks were put in.

Almost two months ago, city officials had hoped to begin construction to put in the same upgrades along the remaining southern portion of Lookout Road down to the Selma-Live Oak city line, but the plan has hit a roadblock.

“The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ. They have a permitting system, an online permitting system, known as STEERS and currently, that system and platform is downed. So, that has delayed our project,” Johnny Casias said.

Casias is a city administrator who said that Selma city engineers have spoken with TCEQ officials but as of right now there is no new start date for construction to begin.

STEERS stands for the State of Texas Environmental Electronic Reporting System.

But he said the multi-million dollar improvement project still has a projected completion date because federal dollars awarded to the city for the project must be used by a specific time frame.

Casias said, “The goal is to have this project done by the end of 2027.”

He explained the total cost of the improvement project for both the northern and southern portions is $9 million.

The cost of the bike lanes and sidewalks already built in the northern portion of Lookout Road and the planned upgrades for the southern portion is around $5.1 million with 80% of the money coming from federal funds awarded to the city through the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The city of Selma provided the other necessary funds through the city’s dedicated sales tax for street repairs and sales tax for the municipal development district.

He also said the upgrades along Lookout Road in the northern portion will be mirrored along the southern portion.

“We are planning to reconstruct the main lanes of Lookout Road, that’s one part of the project. But then the other part of the project that’s completely new is we are adding on-street bike lanes and we’re adding sidewalks on both directions, on both sides of the road. And that’s new.”

Arnold Medellin who lives and walks his dog in the area expressed he does not care for the impending construction or lane closures that are coming but said he is looking forward to the benefits.

“I’d love to see an improvement, just expand more on either side’s up and down Lookout Road and that’d be awesome. You know, more jogging space and then for people to be able to walk their dog, it’d be awesome,” Medellin said.

To mitigate traffic flow issues for drivers especially those who live on Lookout Road in Selma, Casias said there is a plan in place when construction does begin.

He said, “Part of the contract that we have in place is that there is always going to be two-way traffic while Lookout Road is under construction.”