CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The city council Tuesday gave the go-ahead for a $13.7 million street repair project, the latest wave in its Residential Street Rebuild Program.
34 residential streets are on the fix-it list; some will get repairs, while others are getting a total rebuild.
So who's on the list and when will the work begin?
The city calls Florida Avenue the worst of the 34 streets slated for the next round of residential rebuilds. Residents living on the street were excited to hear it was on the list.
Jesse Quintanilla has lived on Florida Avenue for nearly two decades. He says the street’s condition today is about the same as it was when he moved in 18 years ago. Quintanilla says city crews fix potholes with little success.
“They just covered the holes,” said Quintanilla. “It started raining and it comes right back out again. We just got tired of complaining.”
Their complaints are finally answered. These streets were initially identified as part of the city’s 2018 bond package.
Michael Jones lives nearby and often walks on Florida Avenue, though he says he tries not to drive there.
“I avoid this area a lot, but there’s a lot of streets like that around this area, so I have to be creative with the way I come in and out, especially when it runs because you can’t see the potholes,” said Jones.
As part of the Residential Street Rebuild Program, selected streets are removed and repaved, curbs and gutters are replaced, sidewalks and driveway aprons are put in, and in some cases, some underground utility work is done as well.
Eleven of the 34 streets are in District 3 which covers a large area of Corpus Christi. City councilman Roland Barrera is ecstatic to see so much commitment to his district.
“We had some places that we wanted addressed, obviously we’re not going to hit all of them, but we went after the ones we felt we could make a difference on right away,” said Barrera.
While the streets selected need work, others not picked are in worse shape. Barrera says the streets picked were chosen to make the 13.7 million investment cover as much road as possible.
“Basically, staff went out and they assessed which ones we could get the biggest bang for our buck with the dollars that we have,” said Barrera.
The City hopes to start work later this month and will continue through September or October of 2021. The Public Works department has a schedule set and expects to release it next week.
The city has set up a new website for the RSRP which includes project status updates, as well as maps of affected areas.
