Holcombe road construction leaves dangerous debris

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Potholes are nothing new around Houston, but when we heard about gaping holes in one of Houston's busiest streets, we had to check it out.

Sam Brookhim's store, Scrubs 4 Less, has a front row seat to road construction on Holcombe. He says the road construction has created dangerous debris, broken concrete and huge holes along the sides of the road.

"Just tearing up fixing, just tearing up fixing, we don't know what they're doing," Brookhim complained.

When we arrived, we found holes more than a foot deep, and nearly two feet wide. Chunks of broken asphalt were also scattered along the sides of the road.

"They haven't done anything yet, just created a lot of mess, that's all they have done," Brookhim said.

Alvin Wright, of City of Houston Public Works Department tells us crews have, in fact, done quite a bit of work already. They have been working since mid-November and are expected to finish in March. The $1.8 million project stretches along Holcombe, between Edloe and Buffalo Speedway, to repair damage done to the road during the drought of 2011. The city has already refinished the surface of the eastbound lanes of Holcombe, near Kirby, and according to drivers that portion of the street is much smoother.

While we were on location, we pointed out the holes in question to Wright. Wright tells us he will send City crews to the site to inspect and repair. Meantime, he tells drivers to report any road concern issues to the City's 311 hotline.

"The road is getting better, it's not done yet, Wright said.