The Huntsville State of the City was held on Tuesday.

Huntsville, Texas, Mayor Andy Brauninger began by addressing the city workers.

“I want to do nothing but praise our staff and our employees of the city. Why?  Because they have done it.  They have come through during the pandemic, they have come through during the ice storm, they’ve done it,” Brauninger said. 

The Walker County Storm Shelter hosted the event, with several city departments were handing out fliers displaying developmental plans. 

These plans were addressed by City Manager Aron Kulhavy, including propositions one, two and three. 

Proposition 1 built the new fire station seen on Sam Houston Avenue, and the new police station which the Huntsville Police Department moved into in June. 

Proposition 2 includes ongoing construction projects, one those being the City of Huntsville Service Center, which Kulhavy described as the home of the public works and parks operations divisions. 

This facility will be across the street from the Walker County Storm Shelter. 

The project described as the capstone project of all three propositions is the new city hall building. 

All existing offices in the current city hall will be moved to a temporary location while the construction is finished, slated to be in the summer of 2024, according to Kulhavy.

“The existing structure was built in the 70s, and it is in need of some major upgrades, and it’s undersized for what we need now.  Also, a lot of the city operations, about half, are housed in city hall currently, and half are housed out here in the service center.  The new city hall wants to bring all of those core departments together,” Kulhavy said.

Another project detailed was the expansion of IH-45, the interstate highway through Huntsville.  Four miles of the highway will be included and will increase the number of lanes to 14 combined. 

Kulhavy estimated these projects on IH-45 should extend to the next three years.