ROBSTOWN, Tx — For years the Cotton Picker football stadium's parking lot at Robstown Early College High School has been terrible to drive on. But soon it’ll be a smoother ride, with a new project underway.
“It is an embarrassment, it is not something that happened overnight, it is something that has chipped year by year and it is getting worse,” Robstown ISD School Board President Lori Garza said.
Garza told KRIS 6 News reporter Althea Castro de la Mata that for nearly 15 years, the football stadium school parking lot has been in desperate need of repairs.
“This is not fun, driving in this parking lot is not fun," Garza said. "My son is a sophomore here, I drive this every day and it is not okay for just us trustees to look the other way and say it can wait another year, it can’t wait anymore."
Garza said not only is an inconvenience for people, but it can also be dangerous.
“This is a safety issue, when drivers are parking and driving in they will swerve, there could be a student on a bike, there could be a student walking, there could be another parent coming the opposite way, so it has become a safety hazard,” she said.
The parking lot was so bad, Robstown city officials had to help temporarily fix the issue.
“There was a lot of potholes and some of the board members called me and we took care of that," Robstown Mayor David Martinez said. "So we had the water district donate the caliche and we came over and did it with a black top.”
Although school leaders are grateful for the city’s help, Garza said the school needed a more permanent solution. Which is why they are looking into a project that will cost anywhere from $1 to $2 million to fix the current parking lot.
“We have put the meaning to the minds, paper to pen, and we have decided it is time of run to invest and put back the money into our parking lot, it is important, our community is depending on us for that,” Garza said.
Garza said the parking lot will go through a complete makeover and It will be complete concrete.
Right now, the project is still in it’s very early stages. The school is waiting for bids to go out and the architect to complete the plans.
Garza said she expects for the parking lot to be finished in time for the next football season.
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