SAN ANTONIO – A street improvement project that some people see as progress is causing a problem for others in a North Side neighborhood.
Teresa Brown said the city-contracted crews, using jackhammers and noisy trucks in the Park Forest subdivision, kept her up well past her bedtime Monday night.
“I wasn’t feeling well, and I went to bed early,” Brown said. “Then, my son comes in because his bedroom is in the front of the house, and he’s like, ‘They are making too much noise.’”
Brown shared a video that she shot from her home Monday night on Park Manor Street. She said the crews didn’t stop working until nearly 9 p.m.
According to the City of San Antonio’s Public Works Department, those workers are in the process of completing a road rehabilitation project that involves removing the top layer of asphalt before repaving the road.
In an email, Nicholas Olivier, a spokesperson for the city’s Public Works Department, said the repair work is the result of complaints from neighbors about water ponding in the area when it rains.
Crews are also fixing certain sidewalks to help with that problem.
However, Olivier wrote that the late night work was a one-time event and will not happen again. He said crews should finish the final steps of the project Wednesday.
“I mean, you can choose to be upset or you can choose to accept it,” said Steve Read, who also lives in the area.
Read said he was not bothered by the noise of construction. He said he looks forward to seeing its completion.
“They’ll get the streets fixed, fix this puddle right here,” Read said. “It’ll all be over and everybody will be happy.”
Brown, though, said she had was not notified that this was a planned project. She also wondered if it was even necessary at all.
“The streets were paved two years ago and, you know, if you look, they’re in good shape,” Brown said. “So, I don’t know why they’re out here.”
The Public Works Department regularly completes this kind of maintenance work as a way to ward off bigger problems and save taxpayers money, according to Olivier.
Anyone who wants to request street or pothole repair work should call 311, he said.
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