Skywalk leading to the Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge at Phil Hardberger Park. Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
In December 2020, while most of the country was locked down, San Antonio opened the largest wildlife bridge in the United States.
The Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge is 150 feet wide, planted with native grasses and trees. It spans Wurzbach Parkway. It came in on schedule and under its $23 million budget. The Hardberger Park Conservancy raised $10 million privately. The 2017 bond covered the rest. Within days of opening, deer, opossums, and raccoons were crossing it.
Former Mayor Phil Hardberger put it best: "Citizens got a $23 million bridge for $13 million."
In 2025, the bridge won the ASLA Honor Award for General Design. That's the highest recognition in landscape architecture.
This is what a San Antonio bond project looks like when it works.
What Delivers: Parks, Libraries, and Greenways
San Antonio has quietly built one of the largest urban trail networks in the country. The Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System now covers 105 miles. More than 80 trailheads. Roughly 1,700 acres of open space. It's been funded across four separate bond programs, 2007 through 2022, with $103 million in the most recent bond plus $80 million from Bexar County. The 100th mile was celebrated in February 2023.
The libraries delivered too:
Las Palmas Branch Library. $7 million renovation funded by 2017 and 2022 bonds. A 2,000-square-foot expansion with an H-E-B Community Room, fully modernized. Reopened November 2025.
Central Library. $4.27 million for new first and third floors. New main desk, art walk, inclusive restroom, redesigned Children's Library. Reopened April 2023.
World Heritage Center. $7.35 million, orientation center for the Missions UNESCO site. Opened February 2025 on Roosevelt Avenue.
Hemisfair Civic Park opened Phase 1 in September 2023 and Phase 2 in March 2025. Seven acres, a Great Lawn, a sustainable water feature. Total cost: $58 million across multiple bond cycles.
Affordable housing from the 2017 bond delivered 512 units across three projects. Park at 38Thirty contributed 196 units. Greenline North added 292. West End on Frio added 24 more. The success of that $20 million investment directly led to the $150 million housing bond voters approved in 2022.
These projects share a pattern. They're visible, popular, and ribbon-cutting-friendly. The kind of thing a mayor wants their name on.
What Doesn't: Streets
Now compare that to South Alamo Street.
Voters approved $9 million in the 2017 bond to overhaul a stretch from Market Street to Cesar Chavez. When construction finally started in 2021, the estimate had already ballooned to $36.6 million. The city has added another $10 million since. The total now sits around $48 million.
That's 433% over what voters approved.
Part of the problem: the city and SAWS deadlocked over who would pay to replace century-old utility lines beneath the road. Construction paused. A new interagency agreement had to be signed in January 2025 just to restart it. The city spent nearly $1 million installing temporary sidewalks for the 2025 Final Four, then ripped them out because the permanent ones weren't ready. The project finished 18 months late, in April 2026.
South Alamo isn't an outlier:
Hausman Road. Budgeted at $43.5 million in 2012. Final cost: $75.1 million. That's 73% over, or $22.1 million per mile for 3.4 miles of road.
St. Mary's Strip. Approved 2017, broke ground 2021, due October 2022, finished late 2023. The Squeezebox bar closed after losing $300,000. Two-thirds of bars on the strip lost 50% of their annual revenue. Business owners formed a PAC because they "no longer trust the city to complete construction on time."
Roosevelt Avenue sidewalks. $8 million approved in 2017. TxDOT wouldn't turn over the road, so bike lanes were eliminated from the design. Another $12 million added from the 2022 bond. Completion now projected for spring 2028. That's 11 years after voters approved the money.
Brackenridge Park. 2017 bond project still not done. Litigation over tree removal has reached the U.S. Supreme Court as of June 2026.
A Department So Broken They Split It in Half
In August 2025, City Manager Erik Walsh divided Public Works into two separate departments. The new Capital Delivery Department took 188 employees with a single mission: finish projects. An outside consultant recommended the split. Walsh acknowledged the department "wasn't being as efficient on either" maintenance or capital projects.
This was an admission. The agency responsible for spending the bulk of San Antonio's bond money couldn't do its job.
In July 2026, three council members called for an independent audit of Public Works. Sukh Kaur of District 1, Teri Castillo of District 5, and Marina Alderete Gavito of District 7. They want a "comprehensive assessment" of all 182 projects in the $1.2 billion 2022 bond. A 2025 internal audit had already found "inconsistent communications efforts" and "noncomprehensive policies and procedures" in the department.
"I question the ethics of holding bond elections where voters are promised one project outcome and then delivered a lesser one."
The Pattern No One Admits Out Loud
Category | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
Parks & Greenways | ✅ Deliver | Visible, popular, ribbon-cutting material |
Libraries & Cultural | ✅ Deliver | Smaller budgets, less utility conflict |
Affordable Housing | ✅ Delivers | Proved concept in 2017, scaled to $150M |
Streets & Drainage | ❌ Don't deliver | Utility disputes, TxDOT conflicts, scope creep |
Public Safety Facilities | ⚠️ Unknown | No verifiable ribbon-cuttings found |
Look at the track record. The 2007 bond was $550 million. It came in under budget and substantially complete. The 2012 bond was $596 million, on time and on budget. The 2017 bond was $850 million. It still had 47 unfinished projects as of late 2023, and some won't be done until 2028.
The 2022 bond is the largest in city history at $1.2 billion. As of June 2026, 72% of projects are complete or under construction. The 2027 bond is projected at roughly $625 million. That's nearly half of 2022's amount. Declining property values have shrunk the city's borrowing capacity. Staff are floating a "variable tax rate" strategy. Councilman Marc Whyte of District 10 called it "an absolute non-starter."
The Question
San Antonio can build things. The land bridge proves it. The greenways prove it. The libraries prove it.
The question isn't whether the city is capable of delivering on its bond promises. The question is why it keeps failing at the projects people actually depend on to get to work.
With a 2027 bond on the horizon and a Public Works department that had to be dismantled and rebuilt, San Antonio voters should be asking: which kind of bond project are we voting for?
The kind that puts a deer on a bridge. Or the kind that takes 11 years to build a sidewalk.