CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Elva Mata and her husband have lived along Prinston Drive for 53 years.
Under the city of Corpus Christi's current neighborhood street-repair program, Mata may have never been able to see her road get repaired.
Instead, city staff has a plan to get all of those neighborhood streets paved over a 12-year period, rather than the current decades-long estimate, under the new proposed neighborhood street paving plan.
"We figured that under the current approach, it was going to take approximately 62-year time frame to fix all of the residential roadways that have been identified as below standard," said Corpus Christi asst. city manager Neiman Young.
It’s news that’s welcome to Mata, whose street is one of the most pothole-filled streets in town.
"Everybody here in Corpus Christi they complain about the potholes,” she said. “I don't know, I'm glad they're going to do something good.”
Corpus Christi City Council is set to vote on the plan Tuesday, one director of public works Ernesto De La Garza said could save the city time and money by starting a pilot program that simply mills those bad streets and paves them over.
"We did a projection based on what we're doing right now and so we're looking at potentially for centerline miles anywhere from 30 to 40 for a whole year," he said.
Dist. 1 councilman Everett Roy said he sees the program’s importance.
"I am for it,” he said. “It needs to be done. When I take a look at other cities -- and that's how they operate. I think we need to get on board and adopt this.”
Currently, the cost to repair impacted roadways around the city is estimated to be around $950 million. Young estimates the proposed program will save around $750 million in tax dollars by shifting curbs, sidewalks and utilities to the back burner.
It’s a technique that recently was used on Starnberg Lake Drive. The city was able to pave 3 miles of city streets in this South Side neighborhood off Yorktown in just one month.
Dist. 3 councilman Roland Barrera said that the program will be able to provide residents with immediate relief.
"We recognize that whatever that system was although well intended we've got to figure out another way to get it done," he said.
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