Civil Municipal - April 2024

that make Princeton an ideal place to call home. Mayor Brianna Chacon boasts, “We are seeing tremendous residential growth, and we have a tremendous amount of commercial growth that’s coming down the pipeline that we’re hoping we’re going to be able to announce soon. But even though we are growing, we are still a city where we value our hometown feel, and our residents here appreciate that.” INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES City Manager, Michael Mashburn notes that along with this major growth comes challenges, especially in a city dedicated to meeting the needs and wants of residents whenever possible. He shares, “We’re bringing in a team that is going to analyze the city from a strategic standpoint and engage the residents in ways that they haven’t been engaged before, to see what exactly they want.We’ll use data to support those decisions, and then we’ll start acquiring those businesses and put the infrastructure in place to satisfy those needs.” Ongoing infrastructure projects aimed at supporting the city’s growth include Highway 380 improvements to address growing traffic demands. “We’re working with TxDOT and the county. We’ve got a bypass coming in on the northside of our city that’s going to be connecting a lot of our northern cities down and then we’ve got a six-lane thoroughfare that’s on the south side of our city that will eventually connect to airport road in McKinney,”Mayor Chacon expands. “TxDOT is slated to start expanding 380 next year. They’ve already started purchasing the easement rights to begin that project. So, while we’ve got growing pains now, eventually we will have three major thoroughfares to get in and out of the city.” Expanding broadband infrastructure is also on the agenda, in line with the city’s communication master plan. “We do have numerous towers going up throughout the city that are going to be able to link in everybody at a little bit higher speed,” says Chacon.“We’ve partnered with numerous carriers to be able to accommodate that. As well, a lot of our new builders, we are highly encouraging them that 179 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 5, ISSUE 04 PRINCETON, TEXAS