SAN ANTONIO – If you’ve driven down St. Mary’s Street or Broadway, you’ve seen the road construction.
Street projects in San Antonio have experienced significant delays in the past few years.
These type of projects often face delays due to outdated utility records.
City Council members want improve infrastructure city-wide and their plan includes using new technology.
District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur says this is often due to inaccurate or outdated utility records.
“They dig four potholes to see where the actual water pipes, sewage pipes are if they can’t find them. Currently, they kind of make assumptions. they think they know where they are,” said District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur.
Kaur says at times they later realize the pipes aren’t actually there.
“Which means they have to go back into the redesign process. It’s just really long and inefficient,” said Kaur.
But a new policy is headed to council on Thursday aiming to address the issue with Subsurface Utility Engineering.
“Subsurface Utility Engineering literally means that you’ve got to figure out where the utility lines are. So, water pipes, sewage lines, underneath the surface, so subsurface,” she said.
“There are different technologies that can you can use to truly figure out, okay, is the water line on this side of the street or the opposite? How far below is it? Does it curve anywhere?” she added.
Joey Villarreal, a San Antonio native, owns several businesses in the area.
Joey’s on St. Mary’s Street is one of them.
He says his business has been impacted due to the road construction and utility issues.
“We’ve been affected by that, and it’s good to hear that there’s technology out that can help alleviate the time that streets are closed, I’m all for that,” said Joey Villarreal.
“it’s picking up, you know, little by little, it’s been a long, drawn-out recovery, but hopefully, hopefully things will get better,” he added.
Unfortunately, many businesses and residents won’t see the benefit of this policy.
“We are hopeful that the 2022 bond projects that are going to be worked on in the future are going to benefit,” said Kaur.
Councilwoman Kaur says SAWS, CPS Energy, and The City of San Antonio are on board.