CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Streets are the number one local issue for many Corpus Christi voters.
Earlier this week, the city council approved the next two years of street projects.
Of the residential street projects on next year's list, Beverly Dr. scored the lowest on the city's grading system. Residents say that every time it rains, they're forced to zig-zag to avoid potholes.
Willie Medina has lived on Beverly Drive for 30 years; and unlike a fine wine, Medina says Beverly hasn’t improved with age.
“(The) Street’s been like this ever since we first moved in,” said Medina. “It’s gotten worse as the years have gone by, so to hear that the city is going to be doing some improvements to it is great.”
Beverly is one of nearly 170 streets slated for work under the city’s new Infrastructure Management Plan. Public Works Director Richard Martinez says the city took great care to make sure these projects covered as much ground as possible.
“We prioritized based on need, based on maintenance aspects,” said Martinez. “Then we looked at rough proportionality per district, equity per district.”
The projects are broken into four categories: residential street rebuilds, preventative maintenance, concrete work, and in-house maintenance, where city crews do the work.
The city recently hired a second in-house crew to increase its output.
“With our in-house program, we’re doing neighborhood approach,” said Martinez. “We’re going in and doing 5-8 streets at one time in a general area.”
By handling easy projects in house, that frees up contractors for more big projects, like residential rebuilds.
“The drainage is poor, it turns into a lake,” said Beverly Dr. resident David Roach. “(I’ve) Been paying that street tax for a long time, watching other streets get redone. I think it’s about time.”
“We’re long overdue,” said Medina. “I’m really happy to hear the city is stepping up and taking care of the street.”
Martinez says residential projects will start in the middle of next year. Meanwhile other projects will start immediately.
