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Construction project to transform 100-year-old street in Historic Downtown Kingsville

East Kleberg Avenue has seen plenty of wear and tear throughout the decades. The resurfacing project is expected to only take 3 weeks to complete.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A major road re-surfacing project is underway, all part of the City of Kingsville's effort to beautify their historic downtown.

The 100-year-old East Kleberg Avenue is showing its age and was in need of a little TLC.

City leaders found a way to give the street a facelift all while saving thousands of dollars in the process.

The $700,000 project which started at 6th Street near the King Ranch Saddle Shop will be done in sections to minimize the impact to traffic and business. It will go all the way down to 8th street.

Traffic barriers are in place where work is being done.

Kingsville resident Jose Garza who usually rides his scooter down the road stopped to watch the construction being done.

"They are pouring that 'soft serve ice cream' all over the street," Garza said. "My only comment is, it's about time. I ride my scooter on this street, and if they make it smooth for me, I appreciate it."

Kingsville City Manager Mark McLaughlin gave 3NEWS a close inspection of the current condition of the roadway.

"This is the old concrete, it's a 100 years old, look at that old bolt buried down in there," he said. "It's thick, we don't know what's in it, and it's expensive to replace."

McLaughlin also explained how crews will get the work done.

"They have this machine that is about half a city block long, it shoots these pellets into the concrete, and chips off all the scaling and sucks it all back up and that is why it looks all nice and shiny right now because its been cleaned."

All of the old rubber sealant has also been removed exposing the long winding cracks along the road's surface.

McLaughlin said to demo and remove all the concrete from the street would have cost a million dollars in itself, even before replacing it. The option the city went with he said is much more cost effective and will last decades

The company on the job, Andale Construction out of Wichita, Kansas was chosen because of their unique product.

They use a polymer overlay through Oxcon.

"Years ago we came across a gentleman that had developed this product, and we were like 'wow this is exciting,'" said Caleb Fiske who is part of the team working on the project.

Fiske said the process is proving to be a game changer.

"There's never been a fix for it in the past based on the repairs or the cost so we're able to resurface, extend the life of 20 plus years, and give you a new wearing surface at a fraction of the cost," he said.

The entire project also comes with a shorter time frame.

All of the work is expected to take just about a month to complete.

"Will look like a brand new concrete road and we've seen this stuff in Dallas, pretty impressive, it's a great way economically to revitalize a concrete street without having to remove it and replace it," said McLaughlin.

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