Houston residents voice frustration about road conditions, construction

Roads have long been an issue with the residents in Houston, with complaints over the years about the frequency of grading the many gravel roads, to the need for widening narrow roadways, and requesting improvements to improperly built roads.

One such instance is West Cheri Lakes Road, which is an unimproved primitive section of Cheri Lakes Road. Last year, the Houston Fire Department was called out to find a woman stuck knee-deep in extremely soft mud that makes up the roadway. She was unable to remove one of her feet as she waited for assistance.

Because of the state of the road, the fire department had to use their brush truck, and with a penetrating nozzle, inject water into the ground to loosen the mud and loosen the vacuum that had been created. She suffered no injuries, but the incident remains on the minds of the residents who live in that neighborhood.

“Not a single city employee has been down that road when last year, it literally swallowed a human being,” said resident R.J. Wise, who lives on West Cheri Lakes Drive and says the conditions are “abysmal.” He told the council that the city tried to tow his son’s vehicle, though he has been told by city officials that his road is private and therefore cannot be maintained. “You can’t have it both ways.”

For its part, the city says that the section of Cheri Lakes Road in question has never met the minimum standards for road construction, and subsequently was not accepted by the city.

“The extension of Cheri Lakes after Karen Avenue does not, and did not meet standards for minimum road construction (called Pioneer Road Standard), and was never accepted into the roads plan,” says Christian Hartley, Director of Public Safety for the City of Houston. “As a courtesy, the city of Houston has plowed the road during the winter time in the past which has created an impression that it is a city road, but does not do summer maintenance on that portion of the road.”

Of course, this is not the only section of road that needs tending in Houston. The Mat-Su Borough recently had a large portion of King Arthur Road, Anthony Road, and Karen Avenue leveled, paved and striped, while Cheri Lakes was widened in sections and paved, while other sections had to be repaved from an earlier job the city oversaw several years ago.

The city also recently authorized a contract for the reconditioning of nine flood damaged roads, known as the Nine Roads Project, which is meant to repair roads that have been damaged by flooding from the Little Su River. However, not everyone is happy with the work being done, as comments by residents at the August 27 city council meeting were made.

“I’ve lived in this town for 45 years, I’ve been through 8 floods,” said longtime resident Joe Stanistreet, who voiced his anger at the work being done on his property in preparation for the road work, accusing the city of unnecessarily removing trees from his property, destroying natural flood zones, and leaving areas open for trespassers.

“You cut open a high-water natural levy from the Little Su, which causes flooding on my land,” he commented during the meeting. “You are cutting open a natural wetland. After all our spruce trees died, things that held the soil in place and took moisture from the grounds, you’re coming back 20 years later and cutting out all the vegetation. They provided shade, they provided habitat...Anybody could come to Houston to commune with nature. Now there’s a cul-de-sac that you cut open in the riverbank where there’s partying all night. There’s condoms and needles and junk heaps on the river banks.”

He accused the city of not allowing for more public input before construction began and became increasingly upset and unsatisfied with the mayor, stating that there has been a guard parked on his street while crews continued working, something Mayor Carter Cole said he did as a matter of protection for the crews after threats had been made.

“There’s definitely some issues that have been brought by residents. We tried to manage them as quickly as possible without delaying the project,” said Cole during the meeting, adding that there were three public hearings before the project commenced. “Two of them had nobody in attendance. One (public hearing) had a few people. So there was a thorough public process put in place for that project, for anybody that had comments on it.” The mayor went on to say that wen the public does not get involved, it makes it hard for the council to make decisions and address potential issues and encouraged residents to keep attending and provide input on city matters.

“The Nine Roads Project, as well as the King Arthur repair project, are essential for the safety of Houston,” says Hartley. “The reason that minor floods cause such significant damage in the city is the fact that the water does not have a path. It travels and collects. These upgrades will improve the flow and discharge of flood waters. Larger culverts allow water to flow in a non-destructive pathway, rather than flowing over the road and washing it away every time it floods. None of these projects change the flow or pattern of the flood waters, but they reduce the damage done by them to our infrastructure.”