San Juan Man Wants Bad Roads in His Neighborhood Repaved
Related Story
SAN JUAN – A Rio Grande Valley man says he feels unsafe driving on the roads in his neighborhood. He says they are badly damaged and need to be repaired right away.
San Juan resident Eddie Garcia says a massive stroke in 2009 has made his life difficult on a day-to-day basis. He says even though he lost the use of the left side of his body, he’s grateful he’s still able to walk.
Garcia says he had to use a wheelchair for his first few years in recovery. After years of physical therapy, he can now stand on his own.
But he says he has another challenge he deals with every day.
Garcia says the roads in his neighborhood on the southeast section of San Juan, such as 11th and 12th streets and Iowa and Kansas avenues, are old and worn down. He says they are riddled with bumps, grooves and holes.
"There's not a road that you can drive down, having a cup of coffee," he says.
Garcia says he gets concerned about driving on the dilapidated roads. Not just because of the damage it could do to his car, but also because of the people he could hit when swerving through all of its bumps.
"You gotta be paying attention to the public on the street. There's a lot of kids in this neighborhood also and you gotta watch the traffic," notes Garcia.
Garcia says over the last five years, he's called and stopped by city hall several times to ask if the roads in his neighborhood can be repaved.
"Oh yeah, they know me very well," he says.
Garcia says he's been told many times the city will repave the roads but nothing ever happens. He says he just wants to make these dilapidated streets smooth again.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS reached out to the city of San Juan to see if the roads in Garcia's neighborhood can be repaved.
San Juan City Manager Ben Arjona says the city completed repaving roads on the north side of town last month. He says now, the city is looking to repave Garcia's neighborhood on the southeast part of the city.
"As a matter of fact, this coming week on Tuesday,” he tells us. “These are some of the streets that we are going to be presenting to the commission for approval for the second phase of repaving.”
Arjona says he understands Garcia has waited a long time to get the roads paved. He notes the city can't just jump into action quickly to repave roads.
"It's just the process that takes place, like environmental that needs to be done, the engineering, the surveying and then the proposal," he explains.
Arjona says the budget to repave the roads in Garcia's neighborhood will be $1.6 million to $1.9 million.
He says the city will select which general contractor will handle the project if and when the city commission approves the project next week.
Garcia says he is happy the city is working to have his streets repaved.
Count on us to follow up on next week's city commission meeting to see if the project was approved.
If you have a road you want to see repaved in your neighborhood, the Texas Department of Transportation can provide you guidance.
The government agency asks you call its main line in Austin at 512-463-8588. You will be prompted on how to speak with a TxDOT representative.
They will ask you the name of the town and county the road is located in. From there, you will receive instruction on what city or TxDOT regional office to contact with your request.
News
