CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It’s no secret there’s a pothole problem throughout the Coastal Bend.
But as the Troubleshooters experienced firsthand, County Road 36 in Robstown, west of Highway 77, could make a Top 5 ‘Worst’ Pothole roads list.
We're talking about a half-mile or so stretch that runs in front of the Martin Marietta and Flatiron Dragados Pre-Cast yards just off Highway 77. The Dragados yard houses materials being used to build the new Harbor Bridge.
Big 18-wheeler trucks drive in and out of these yards carrying heavy equipment for the Harbor Bridge Project.
"They need to redo the road and make these people make their own road out there in the back for them," said Robtown resident Ricardo Cedillo.
Cedillo drives this patch of road just about everyday, heading to and from his home in the Lost Creek subdivision. He says these potholes just started getting this bad four to five years ago.
"Lady friend of ours turned over hitting one of these potholes. She flipped her van and she was not driving that fast," he told the Troubleshooters.
According to Robstown Mayor Gilbert Gomez, this part of Nueces County was annexed by the city of Robstown, but he tells the Troubleshooters, the city will need help from the county, the drainage district, and Martin Marietta and Flatiron to get the road repaired.
"We’re trying to get the trucking companies that are there, the trucking companies, to pitch in. Some sort of assistance to the city, with the county, and the drainage district, so we can get that road fixed," Gomez said.
He admitted there's just not enough in the city of Robstown's budget to absorb the entire cost to fix the stretch of road like it needs to be fixed, not just patched up.
On Friday, The Troubleshooters contacted both Martin Marietta and Flatiron Dragados for comment about what Mayor Gomez proposed. As of 1 p.m. Monday, before this story aired, they had not returned our calls.
It’s going to take cooperation and contributions from multiple entities to get this portion of County Road 36 fixed. But that’s not nearly as quick as nearby residents like Ricardo Cedillo would like.
In the meantime, this is part of their daily commute, come rain or shine.
