CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Problematic potholes is an item on the Corpus Christi city council’s agenda. The Public Works Department is looking to discuss a way of fixing the neighborhood streets at a faster pace.
Their new plan is to redo the streets pavement rather than fixing the whole road from the bottom up
“Everywhere you go there’s a pothole, it’s hard to avoid,” Joe Hernandez who lived in the city said.
Hernandez said potholes are a never-ending issue.
Corpus Christi Director of Public Works Ernesto De La Garza is hoping to fix that
“And so, we are going to tackle more of the pothole problems, base failure problems. And get more lane miles completed rather than just complete re-dos one block at a time maybe six center lane miles per year,” De La Garza said.
Dela Garza said just over 373 miles of city streets need to be reconstructed or are in the red. He said at the rate they are working right now it just isn’t fast enough. And if they continue re-doing the whole streets they won't catch up.
“So, what we are recommending is if the pavement-only approach allows us to catch up in a 12-year time span rather than a 60-plus year time frame, that would help us get a lot of our pavements under control,” De La Garza said.
Despite the new plan and accelerated timeline, some are still skeptical.
“They’re talking about fixing the roads, just the top layer of it. Why put a band-aid? Why put a band-aid on these roads? We are going to wind up paying twice for it. Let's fix them right the first time,” Gilbert Hernandez a resident of Corpus Christi said.
De La Garza added that with this plan, they'll be using a "hot mix" material, one that will stand the test of time
“So, it’ll be a sturdy pavement it’ll last a long time, it's not going to be a crack seal and seal coat, that’s more of a maintenance fix,” De La Garza said.
He said if the plan is approved, they hope to start this summer.
