CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — At the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, the Mayor and City Council awarded $13.7 million in contracts for 34 street repair projects. The projects are part of the Residential Street Rebuild Program (RSRP), and most of the contracts were awarded to local companies.

The RSRP is under development and will address the City of Corpus Christi's residential streets in poor condition. Two methods of pavement rebuild work are expected: rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Rehabilitation is performed on streets that are in poor condition, but the base material under the pavement is in pretty good shape. This option is used to stretch construction dollars further by recycling some of the existing base and/or pavement, doing only a small amount of concrete work, and minimizing the amount of underground utility work that is done.

Reconstruction is performed on streets for which both the pavement and base material is unusable and the pavement structure has failed. With reconstruction, the entire street (pavement and base) is removed and replaced. Typically, there is some limited replacement of curb and gutter, sidewalks, and driveway aprons (entrances). A limited amount of underground utility work may be done as well.

The construction contracts were part of a larger voter-approved street improvement program for maintenance or reconstruction of residential streets. This action approves construction contracts for 34 out of 60 residential streets.

Additional action included $1.3 million for seven grants. Two were COVID-19 related as part of emergency supplemental funding for police and fire operations. Other actions included approval of grant applications related to auto theft and beach cleaning. The City Council also funded an additional $500,000 to give more Corpus Christi businesses impacted by COVID-19 an opportunity to take advantage of the interest-free loans.