The News 4 I-Team continues its year-long commitment to exposing wasteful spending of your tax dollars. That includes road projects running behind schedule and
In this week's Waste Watch report, Jaie Avila digs into what's causing delays on a job that should have been completed more than a year ago.The News 4 I-Team continues its year-long commitment to exposing wasteful spending of your tax dollars.
That includes road projects running behind schedule and over-budget. In this week's Waste Watch report, Jaie Avila digs into what's causing delays on a job that should have been completed more than a year ago. Frustrated residents lined up along Military Drive on the far west side this week; to protest a slow moving construction project that's cutoff access to streets and caused driving delays. “I take my son to the middle school over here it takes me 40 minutes every day, and it used to take me 15," said Kim Dixon who lives in the nearby Villages of West Creek neighborhood. “We need to get it done, it's going on three years this is ridiculous," said another neighbor Michele Garcia. Work started in November of 2022 and residents were told the construction would be finished by March of 2024.“This project was supposed to be done more than a year ago, what's the main delay here?" asked I-Team Reporter Jaie Avila. "The main delay has really been utility challenges, San Antonio Water System and CPS Energy have had to come back to the Alamo RMA board with changes in their scope," said Bexar County Public Information Officer Monica Ramos. Ramos says the unexpected utility work cost an additional $640 thousand dollars, over and above the total project cost of $9.3 million. The cost overruns will be paid for by SAWS and CPS Energy which are both owned by the City of San Antonio. That was just one in a series of delays. Crews also uncovered caves which required environmental reviews and tests to make sure sinkholes wouldn't form beneath the roadway. A 52-year old construction worker was killed on the site in 2023 after being struck in the head by a steel pipe which led to an OSHA investigation. However, in recent weeks neighbors say there's often no one working on the project, or just a few workers. “There's five people for a mile long construction site it's not going to get finished like that," Dixon said. Bexar County says its contractor, Harper Brothers Construction, has had staffing problems, and at times pulled some workers off the project to work on a different one. “We have been talking with the highest levels of leadership with the contractor and right now the main focus is to get the project done and get residents on their way, but we will holding them accountable," Ramos said. She added that could mean reducing the amount paid to the contractor if they're determined to be responsible for some of the delays.
Bexar County Road Project Overbudget Delays Utility Challenges Residents Investigations San Antonio Construction Local
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