RICARDO, Tx — Joe Balderas has lived in Ricardo all his life. He said there's one issue that's continued to stand out year after year and its led to many frustrations among residents.
The issue? Potholes.
"I've been to the commissioners court, made a statement, did my minutes... they said they would do something. That was in 2021," Balderas said.
Balderas said some roads like County Rd. 2160 continue to be neglected.
"This whole road isn't even paved. It's been like this for two years. There's this sign too that was made by a county resident. I guess because the road hasn't been paved and they don't want big trucks or anything like that to come in," Balderas said.
Other lifelong residents like Cheyanne Bumgarner also said 2160 is a bigger issue road.
Other locals added that there's a few more problem areas.
"Yes, over there at 1075 is bad too. Everywhere ma, everywhere... I messed up my car. I had to take it to the shop. It's bad," one local said.
Residents said another problem area is right in front of Ricardo ISD.
"These are next to the school and people drive to drop off their kids and the buses to and from. There's a lot of wear and tear on vehicles in this community," Balderas said.
Balderas has asked for some really bad potholes to be patched in areas where his friends and family live, but he said those fixes are only temporary.
"They'll fix the potholes but they won't fix the whole road. This was a sinkhole a month and a half ago. The rest is caliche and they only put one little piece of gravel. Well if it rains, its going to make the hole again," Balderas said.
The pothole problem has left many neighbors fed up.
It kind of feels like we’re kind of forgotten. It’s always on the back burner because it’s the roads nobody ever sees. But people in Ricardo stick together so we all kind of know ‘hey these roads are really bad over here’ ," Bumgarner said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner David Rosse said Kleberg County has to use the $200,000 Texas Infrastructure Grant to fix certain roads first by early 2025 before they can move on to areas like 2180 and others.
Rosse said the plan is to begin some repairs on some roads next year. Those roads will be priority based depending on how often it's driven on and what condition it's in. The county is currently monitoring road conditions to determine the order.
To find out if your road is on the grant list, contact Rosse at (361) 595-8529.
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