CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Reconstruction of several streets in Corpus Christi neighborhoods stopped about three weeks ago with those projects left incomplete.
People who live on or just use those streets have been reaching out to city leaders to voice their concerns.
“When work stops, people are like, ‘What happened? What’s going on?' District 5 City Council Member Gil Hernandez said. "They want to know what the issue is."
He said the issue is the Mexican government recently closing a quarry, where some of the contractors who do road reconstruction in the city get their crushed limestone.
Without that material to use as a base, the road work has been at a standstill.
It's left people having to drive on rough, partially built streets among other issues.
“You saw that car drive by," Hernandez said. "There was a lot of dust being kicked up. And that gets on your house — on your car. It’s a pain. And I understand. I ask for some patience."
In hopes of resuming the work, contractors are looking for other sources of crushed limestone.
They're also considering other materials, but engineers must first test them against the soil along a particular road to determine if they're viable alternatives.
“We apologize for the inconvenience," Corpus Christi Director of Engineering Jeff Edmonds said. "This should be very temporary, and it should be resolved fairly quickly, and those contractors should be able to get back to work.”
Hernandez guesses it could be another week before that happens, but he said making sure the job is done correctly is what matters the most.
“It’s important that we go get this right," he said. "Because I don’t want to come back and fix this street again if we select the wrong base.”
