When councilmembers pledged Port Arthur to a new way of tackling its crumbling municipal streets, you could almost feel the eye rolls around City Hall. Here we go again. That was last Thanksgiving week.

City Engineer Alberto Elefano said the city had some $14 million to apply to the pothole-marked streets. The professional staff offered city leaders a list of hardest-hit city byways; the City Council, in turn, chose projects that would not only challenge the fledgling road crew — new workers with new equipment — but would also show progress around the town. It was past time.

“Five, six months from now, people will start seeing streets done,” said District 4 Councilman Harold Doucet, who keeps close watch on Port Arthur infrastructure.

Four months later, the city road crew newbies are pressing toward the end of their tick list for Fiscal Year 2019. With a couple of weeks of dry weather — those have been scarce around here — the crew might finish all 17 rehab projects, six months ahead of schedule.

Doucet and fellow councilmembers had lamented last fall that there had been little successful communication between the street department and elected leaders, who routinely learned — too late — that the crew was short staffed or ill-equipped or too green to handle work the city needed them to do.

No more. Elefano promised all the projects would be done by September 2019 and, it appears, his department will make good on that promise. City Services Director Dr. Hani Tohme, who oversees the water and street departments, ticked off the growing list of completed projects this week and those ready to move forward, pending improved weather.

The crew of seven — six of whom hadn’t operated heavy equipment before — “has met and exceeded expectations at this point,” Tohme said. “They’ve been productive and done quality work where it was expected. I’m very pleased with what the crew is doing, very proud.”

Doucet, who could be stern about street department failures, says he’s surprised and pleased by their successes, given unfavorable weather.

“We have been getting more done when it is raining than we had gotten done in the last four or five years,” he said this week. He said new accountability within the department has encouraged success. He’s likely right.

Four months back, we said the City Council’s success and reputation might depend upon how quickly Port Arthur could repair its crumbling road. Where the rubber meets the road is, too often, in a pothole.

There’s still a bundle of road projects ahead, but the street department’s early efforts — ahead of time, under budget, Tohme says — has bolstered our confidence in their work. Tohme said the crew may be ready to tackle some of next year’s projects this year.

That’s encouraging.