CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A sunken hole in the road on Corpus Christi’s Westside is drawing frustration from drivers who said the issue has lingered for weeks.
The damaged area, located on Barrera Drive near Horne Road, has caused neighbors like Julian Hernandez, to dodge the nuisance on their way home. Hernandez describes the road hazard as “at least six and a half inches deep.”
“You have to play defensive driving to see if somebody is coming out in front of you,” Hernandez said. “But when you see these deep big ol' potholes, you don’t realize how deep it is until you hit it.”
Hernandez said he’s seen city crews work on the hole before, but believes those visits only offered short-term solutions.
“You can tell that it’s been patched over and then it all sunk,” he added. “They haven’t come out to replace it or even check on it.”
KRIS 6 News reached out to the city's Public Works Department to get answers on the problem. They said it's not actually a pothole, instead, it's a utility cut. In response to our questions, Public Works issued this statement:
"The issue at hand is not a pothole but a utility cut. According to an interdepartmental agreement, the department responsible for utility cuts forwards pavement work orders to Public Works for roadway repairs. Typically, this department maintains the road cuts until Public Works can schedule a permanent repair. However, due to recent rains, the temporary surface has deteriorated. Public Works plans to address this within the next two weeks, pending weather conditions."
"It's really a concern because we live here in the community and everybody's tax dollars goes to it, but yet they don't seem to be fixing things with any concern for us," Hernandez said.
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