Streets considered by some to be the worst in Texarkana, Texas, are getting a $3.6 million overhaul expected to take more than a year.
Local contractor Stan Excavation began replacing about 1.5 miles of streets in the Forest Lake neighborhood May 1. The project is expected to continue through August 2018.
The neighborhood can be accessed via Forest Lake Drive, which is off North State Line Avenue.
"We're starting with Lakeridge, Ridgecrest Place, Wood Bridge Drive and Treasure Hill Road. We're getting all those done first, and then the last section will be the Forest Lake Drive," said Dustin Henslee, director of the city's Public Works Department.
Because the streets are in such poor condition, the project is one of the first funded by the city's Capital Improvement Plan, a prioritized 27-year schedule of more than 50 infrastructure upgrades to be paid with municipal bonds and other debt instruments.
The city has been using asphalt to patch separations in the streets' concrete pavement that can reach 3 inches wide.
"The ground is real high clay underneath the concrete that was there, and the roads have just buckled and cracked and come all to pieces over the years," Stan Excavation project manager David Hagood said.
He estimates the streets are 30 to 35 years old, right at the end of their life expectancy.
"It's really bad. It's probably some of the worst streets in Texarkana, if not the worst," he said.
Plans include removing the current pavement, stabilizing the ground beneath and repaving the streets with superior reinforced concrete expected to last 30 to 40 years. Crews will also replace all the streets' drainage structures.
The streets are so bad that breaking up the pavement has not made them worse and may actually have improved them.
"We've already cracked a lot of the streets to have them prepared to remove. Those don't ride any rougher than the roads that haven't been cracked," Hagood said.
Becky Moore, a 24-year resident of Lakeridge Drive, went a step further.
"In fact, with them torn up, they're riding smoother than they were before," she said.
Moore has advocated for repairing the streets for years and could not be happier to finally see the work begin. She said any inconvenience will be well worth it.
"Listen, I'd park a block away and walk through the rain to get a new street. I am tickled to death," she said, adding that she has heard only positive comments about the project from her neighbors.
The city has made a determined effort to keep the neighborhood informed about the work, sending letters and establishing a website, even sending residents refrigerator magnets with a number to call when they have questions.
"Our goal is to be transparent, because it's going to be kind of a long process for those residents, and we know it can be inconvenient to try to pick a new route to work or find a different way to get where you need to go," city public information officer Lisa Thompson said.
"But we feel like the end result is really going to be worth it, so if they can just hang with us and stay informed, we feel like everyone's going to be happy in the end."
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