By Ken Stickney

ken.stickney@panews.com

Port Arthur’s beleaguered street improvement program appears to be making headway, according to city officials, as the street department enhances its roadwork equipment and adds additional, needed help.

Alberto Elefaño, city engineer, presented a report to the City Council this week that indicates the department will spend all of the $14.3 million allocated to it for roadwork this year, which includes:

• Reconstruction projects. Elefaño described those as projects that address the whole street structure, including drainage work, utility replacements or realignment and sidewalks.
• Remedial projects. In these, streets are reclaimed and resurfaced, extending their life by three to five years.
• Rehabilitation projects. These include projects in which the streets show pavement distress but reconstruction is not necessary.

That report came at the behest of councilmembers who’ve been vocal in their criticism of the program. District 4 Councilman Harold Doucet said that in recent years only projects that were contracted out to private companies have been completed. The problem, he said, was that the city’s street program lacked the personnel and equipment to complete even smaller projects itself.

“We didn’t have the equipment; we didn’t have the crews,” he said.

The problem, Doucet said, stemmed from a lack of communication; the public works department didn’t tell councilmembers they needed equipment and people. Instead, money remained unspent at year’s end, and councilmembers did not know why.

“Five, six months from now, people will start seeing streets done,” he said this week.

Well underway

Elefaño told councilmembers at their biweekly Tuesday meeting this week that seven reconstruction street projects were designed or well into the design phase. These include 15^th Street, from Stilwell to Vicksburg; 60^th Street from West Port Arthur to Canal; Willow Avenue from Maple to 60^th Street; Nashville Street from Seventh to Procter; Sunken Court from Wilson to Twin City; Eighth Avenue from 32^nd Street to the dead end; Carolina Avenue from Gulfway to the dead end.

Of those projects, he said, the 15^th and Eighth Avenue projects will be ready for bid by the end of December. The other six projects will go to bid in January.

He said reconstruction projects started conceptually in the spring and design bids were awarded in the summer.

Bids almost here

Elefaño also said 19 projects are ready to be remediated. The city has asked for bids on five of those projects; bids will be opened Nov. 28. The privately done projects must be completed by 28 days after the contracts are awarded.

City crews will address the rest of the remedial projects, he said, and all the projects will be completed by the end of Fiscal Year 2019, which comes Sept. 30.

The remedial street projects are: 12^th Street from Sixth Avenue to Woodworth; 24^th Street from Gulf Avenue to Memorial; Ninth Street from Houston to Fort Worth; Marshall from 10^th Street to Gulfway; El Paso from Lakeshore to Howard; Eighth Street from Williams to Duff; Sixth Street from Brazos to Duff; 38^th Street from Rachel to Lansing; Forest Drive from Griffing to Evergreen; 42^nd Street from Ninth Avenue to Wentworth; Evergreen Drive from North Park to Tyrrell; Third Avenue from 32^nd Street to 36^th Street; Cedar Street from 58^th Street to North End; 64^th Street from Garnett to West Port Arthur; 58^th Street from Ray Avenue to Cedar Street; Pine Avenue from 60^th Street to dead end; Sharon Drive from Cambridge to Queens; Waco Avenue from Gulfway to Thomas.

Elefaño said the city has the necessary equipment — asphalt paver, motor grader, padfoot roller compactor, steel-wheel roller compactor and bomag recycler to equip a city crew for remedial street projects.

17 rehab projects

The city can also handle rehabilitation projects, he said. The road crew will attempt 17 of those in Fiscal Year 2019, including New Orleans Avenue from Thomas to 12^th Street; New Orleans Avenue from 15^th Street to Gulfway; Pearl Street from South 15^th Avenue to South Gulfway; St. Augustine from Procter to Fourth Street; Bufford Street from South Gulfway to South 15^th Street; Williams Avenue from Lakeshore to Procter; T.B. Ellison Parkway from Bridge to Lakefront Drive; South Street from Eighth Street to Delaware; Redbird Street from dead end to PAISD Auxiliary; Ferndale from Highland Drive to South Park; Northpark Drive from West Park to Evergreen; Wilson Drive from Evergreen to Woodrow; Griffing Drive from the railroad tracks to Las Palmas; 63^rd Street from Diamond to dead end; Anne Street from Jade to dead end; Susie Street from Jade to dead end; Viterbro Road from Spur 93 to dead end.

Of those rehabilitation projects, he said, the first five were completed last summer. A 100-foot section of Backridge Road in Sabine Pass was completed Nov. 9.

Council picks

Elefaño said the street department’s work of late has been a success.

“We are going to get this all done by the end of the (fiscal) year,” he said.

That means spending some $14 million in available funds, which includes some projects now completed.

He said the professional staff recommends to the City Council which streets need work; the City Council chooses the street projects.

“We want everyone to get a piece of the pie,” Doucet said, meaning all geographic reaches of the city. “We want to do it all over the city so everyone can see it.”

He said the city is also working with new patch materials to fix ruts until complete projects are available. Doucet said he learned about the patch materials at a conference.