ROBINSON, Texas — Residents in Robinson told 6 News potholes have been a constant problem on their streets and it seems like they have gotten worse.
Homeowner Duane Friesen explained, "My kids ask me why I swerve so much on our road and my wife gets mad when I don't slow down on the road because the potholes can damage our car. We've been here for three years and it seems like the roads aren't getting any better."
Friesen lives on Sunset Drive, a street in Robinson where residents claim is the home of the worst potholes in town.
Another homeowner on Sunset, Renee Coker, said she and her neighbors pitched in money to get their roads fixed over 10 years ago. Now it seems like that never even happened.
"We just need a new street. The whole thing needs to be redone. They'll come down and fix the little potholes and throw the gravel stuff in there but it just washes away so it's rough," Coker shared.
Robinson's Director of Public Service David Kaufman says city officials are well aware of the major potholes and street infrastructure issues.
Kaufman says the constant change in weather is one of the reasons potholes form so often.
"There's just so much plasticity in the clay used to build roads that when it's wet, it expands, and it pushes the street up. When it's dry, it shrinks and everything kind of collapses," Kaufman explained.
The city has several street projects happening in town. Due to so many streets needing pothole repairs or total reconstruction, it has been difficult to get them done as fast as residents would like.
"We're still relatively a small city, we have a small workforce and a small budget, but we purchased a machine that will help us get these projects done at a faster rate," Kaufman said.
He went on to say he wants to ensure the job is done efficiently and the city won't have to fix streets sooner. A big thing he wants to implement is rehabilitating streets before they get to the point where they're nearly dangerous to drive on.
Sunset Drive is one of the streets on the city's extensive list of pot hole fixes and reconstructions they hope to have completed by the end of this year.
Many shared concerns about Greig Drive and Old Robinson Road. These are two major streets that are passed the point of just needing pot holes repaired and will need complete rehabilitation from the ground up to be fixed properly.
"Since I've been here, I have increased the street maintenance budget to over $150,000. I want to get our budget to $500,000 so we can patch up these roads as needed," Kaufman said.
To help, Kaufman recommends residents utilize the SeeClickFix app to report any pothole or overall city maintenance issue they may come across.