Fort Worth city bond election

City officials in Fort Worth are asking voters to approve $150 million in bonds for arterial and neighborhood streets and bridges for the Trinity River Vision project.

The package is the largest that the city can afford without raising taxes, officials have said. It has provoked protests from some residents, however, who question the decision to spend money on the Trinity River bridges.

The numbers

The bond program breaks down like this:

$81 million for 20 miles of multilane arterial streets

$33 million for 33.4 lane-miles of neighborhood streets

$5 million for traffic signals citywide

$2.5 million for intersection improvements

$12 million to pay the city's share of replacing the Seventh Street bridge over the Trinity River.

$10 million to pay the city's share of two other bridges that are part of the Trinity River Vision project, a plan to create a lake and diversion channel where the river flows to downtown Fort Worth. The ultimate goal is to revitalize the industrial area just north of the river.

$3.3 million to use as matching funds for state and federal grants

$3 million for public art

The debate

Most questions have centered on the bridges for the Trinity River project. The Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods questioned the need to include the bridges in the bond election, when there are other street needs throughout the city. Mayor Mike Moncrief defended the bridges, saying the Trinity River project is just as crucial as other infrastructure.