MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — It's no secret trips to and from the south end of Midland County can be a rough and bumpy ride.
From pot holes to torn up edges of the road, roads south of I-20 in the county's Precinct 3 haven't seen any attention in the last few years.
It's a problem that the precinct's Commissioner Luis Sanchez has focused on addressing this year.
"You know as we found out earlier in the year that precinct 3 was left out of the phasing project that was done about 4 or 5 years ago, and I reported that 0 dollars were spent out of the 28 million dollars," said Sanchez.
Now help is on the way, since the beginning of the year to the County Commissioner's Court meeting held on May 28, a series of major paving projects have been approved and had bids with contractors accepted.
"I think the total amount that we're gonna be spending in precinct 3 for Midkiff (CR 1210) and Cotton Flat will be about $12.8 M total," said Sanchez.
The repaving of Cotton Flat will extend from south of I-20 to CR 150 and is expected to start in June.
The repaving of CR 1210 will take place after Cotton Flat is complete.
"That project is split up into two phases, phase one is from I-20 to CR 140, second phase is from CR 140 down to CR 180," said Sanchez.
Officials also say the new roads that are paved will be laid in thicker layers than what the existing roads were made of.
"It's gonna be a very sturdy road; we are expecting a lot of truck traffic to be on there, and to make it strong enough for that truck traffic to continue to use both of those roads," said Sanchez.
So as it seems Precinct 3 may be appearing to play catch up, Commissioner Sanchez says going forward projects in Precinct 3 will be a priority.
"This is not the end of it, we've got many new projects in store as the new budget begins to make sure that a lot of those roads south of I-20 are improved," said Sanchez.