el paso libraries ready for bond-funded facility upgrades

Upgrade work on three public libraries in El Paso is still in the planning stage, the last of the big projects funded by the Quality of Life Bonds passed by voters nearly seven years ago.

That $473 million bond has been spent on a variety of park, street, and museum projects, as well as the $1.6 million renovation of the Richard Burges Library at 9600 Dyer Street, which saw the addition of new community space and study rooms.

The Sergio Troncoso Library at 9321 Alameda Avenue has also received some $450,000 in general facility upgrades as a result of the bond.

Now slated for work is the $620,000 renovation and upgrading of the Dorris Van Doren Regional Library at 551 E. Redd Road, which is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2020.

The design phase for the $350,000 upgrading of the Armijo Branch Library at 620 E. 7th Avenue is set to launch this fall, with actual construction work starting in late 2020.

And, finally, one of the most talked-about bond library projects will see design work starting in the fall of 2022 on El Paso’s main downtown library, located at 501 N. Oregon.

That limestone building, with a distinct modernist design, was opened in the fall of 1954.

Public input meetings have already been held, with perhaps more in the offing, discussing the exact structural changes to a building that serves an estimated 200,000 patrons yearly.

Once the design phase of the main library project is completed, actual construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2023, with a completion date one year after that.

By Garry Boulard

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