CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Lipes Boulevard is a major connector road in Corpus Christi, but drivers say it has become more of an obstacle course than a thoroughfare \u2014 and the damage is getting worse.<\/p>\n
Ty Gayhart, a landscaper at Worldwide Lawn Services, drives the road every day pulling a trailer full of equipment.<\/p>\n
“As a landscaper here in Corpus, driving down this road, it’s definitely a hassle, pulling a trailer with equipment, having to avoid all these potholes, and the road itself isn’t even level, so it’s like a roller coaster almost,” Gayhart said.<\/p>\n
For Gayhart, the potholes are more than an inconvenience \u2014 they are a business risk.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely a liability. I could possibly risk something coming off my equipment or off my trailer,” Gayhart said.<\/p>\n
Neighbor Jillian Black has lived near Lipes Boulevard for five years and has watched drivers swerve to avoid the worst spots, creating what she describes as a dangerous situation.<\/p>\n
“So it’s really busy, and then, very true, the cars try to avoid the potholes and steer around them, and, it makes traffic, unpredictable, as well as kind of chaotic,” Black said.<\/p>\n
Black says the road conditions force drivers into an impossible choice.<\/p>\n
“If you have a smaller vehicle, just going over one of these potholes can stop your whole day. You can pop a tire, or you have to replace the whole rim, and that could leave you out without a car for days. And then, if you are trying to avoid them, steering into oncoming traffic, which, you know, you’re risking yourself and the people in your car,” Black said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the potholes, large stretches of Lipes Boulevard are uneven and cracked \u2014 enough to rattle shocks and suspensions on every pass.<\/p>\n
Gayhart says the city has attempted quick fixes before, but the problem keeps returning.<\/p>\n
“One of the biggest issues is potholes. They fill them, fix them, but really, they just need to redo the entire road,” Gayhart said.<\/p>\n
The city says it is aware of the problem and is working on two fronts. Extra crews are out six days a week patching potholes, and Lipes Boulevard is expected to receive attention within the next few days. <\/p>\n
However, the city acknowledges that patches are not a long-term solution. A full rebuild of the road is already 60 percent through the design phase, but construction cannot begin until funding is secured. The city did not provide a timeframe for when that funding would be in place.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n
For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 Lipes Boulevard is a major connector road in Corpus Christi, but drivers say it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,3370],"class_list":["post-444510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-southside-corpus-christi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}