St. Robert city streets have problems, but the city’s director of public works said during Tuesday evening’s Public Works Committee meeting that many of the complaints he receives are about county roads rather than city streets.
Lyle Thomas said Eastlawn Avenue, which outside St. Robert becomes Texas Road, is a particular problem, and board members agreed.
“Eastlawn is going to have to be redone,” Thomas said. “But exactly what we’re going to be able to afford next year, I don’t know.”
“If on Eastlawn we get the worse places patched, from Phoenix on out is where it needs major work,” said Alderman Bill Shaw. “We’re going to have to do some major work on Eastlawn; it’s getting so bad.”
Thomas said there are other problems on Eastlawn that need work as well.
“We’re going to try to take some steps forward this year,” Thomas said.
However, Thomas said people don’t always know where Eastlawn Avenue ends and Texas Road begins.
“I’ve received plenty of phone calls from people who live in the county and say their car got swallowed up by a pothole,” Thomas said. “They don’t understand where the boundaries are. My intent is that I don’t any phone calls like that from the residents of St. Robert. I can’t control what’s going on out there.”
Aldermen said that while the city does have some rough roads, there aren’t any major potholes known to city work crews. City workers do rapidly respond when a pothole is reported to them, Thomas said.
Responding to questions from Alderman Gene Newkirk, Thomas said storm sewer work on Bosa Drive will begin after the water levels dry out. This summer’s road repair work is expected to begin on VFW Circle, then move to Bosa Heights, then move to the Hickory Valley area, and finally move through the city to the west side.
“I’m not saying they’re going to fix every problem on every street,” Thomas said, noting that some streets such as Phoenix are poorly built and have only 2 inches of asphalt on top of river rock. The result is that water continues to seep through the road surface and do damage.
Lack of asphalt is also a problem, Thomas said. Willard Asphalt, the company from which St. Robert buys its asphalt, has three asphalt plants in different counties and only fires up an asphalt plant when they have enough work in the area to justify starting the plant.
In related road issues:
• Thomas said he’s asked the contractors doing work in the North Town Village/Interstate Plaza Transportation District to provide a price quote on re-striping the traffic lanes of St. Robert Boulevard. Thomas reminded the aldermen that lane striping can only be expected to last one year before it’s repainted.
• Newkirk complimented city utility workers on their work with installing sewer lines along Old Route 66 and said very little dirt and debris has been dumped on the ground.