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Corpus Christi resident fights ongoing street paving battle for five years

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  • Jeremy Dean is a resident of River Crest Rd on the Southside who has been advocating for getting his road paved since 2019.
  • A social media post about Jessmine Street on the island being paved this week frustrated residents who live in Corpus Christi on roads that they say are in worse condition.
  • Corpus Christi City Councilmembers addressed the resident's concerns about street paving schedules explaining how studies are done to decide which sections of streets need to be paved and when.

A social media post that gained a lot of traction regarding Jessamine Street on Padre Island being paved during the week of July 29 frustrated some Corpus Christi residents. One of these residents is Jeremy Dean who lives on River Crest Road on the city's Southside. Some Padre Island residents spoke out about how they think other streets on the island, such as Palmira Avenue, should have been paved before Jessamine.
“It’s not really making sense based on the fact that we’ve been trying to get our street fixed for five years now, and the condition of our street is clearly much worse than some of these others that they’re repairing. So, I would call on the city to reevaluate that plan," Dean said.

Dean says that he has been reaching out to members of Corpus Christi City Council since 2019 about getting River Crest Road paved.

“They’re making us the same promises, yet our street remains in terrible shape," Dean said.

He said that he and his neighbors are inconvenienced daily by how uneven and pothole-filled their street and back alley are. In the past week, these concerned residents have received the attention of Councilmember for District 4, Dan Suckley. Councilmember Suckley addressed the residents in a document explaining what goes into the city's decisions on which sections of streets need to be paved and when.

“They may be responding, I will say that the city has been very responsive. But they’ve been responsive in the past. Yet, the street remains in the condition it remains in," Dean said.

Dean and neighbors were appreciative of the city's explanation. Councilman Suckley explained that the city hired a specialty consultant back in 2022 to measure data to prioritize which roads need to be paved, based on the pavement condition index (PCI). The PCI of a specific area ranges between 0 and 100 which indicates the overall condition of the streets in that specific section. Each of the five districts in the City of Corpus Christi have their own PCI number that was measured between February and May of 2022.

“It sounded to me like they group them all into the districts, which is probably not the best assessment because there’s different sides of districts with different numbers of streets. But then he did also add that the island, for example, is in district 4 I believe, and they are split into three different groups. So, I’m like okay well what are the groups?" Dean said.

The Rapid Pavement Program was approved by City Council on June 13, 2024. The city stated that they are trying their best to ensure equality on street paving and fixing across all five districts.

“Nothing has ever been done to repair the streets. Finally, the ultimate answer was you know what, Jeremy, it’s 2022, that street is on the list to be repaired in 2024. So, now 2024 is here, we go to look at the map, oh we’ve been bumped to 2026 because now there’s a new pavement program. And they’re making us the same promises, and yet our street remains in terrible shape," Dean said.

For additional information about theCity of Corpus Christi's Rapid Pavement Plan and street paving schedule, click here.

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