MADISONVILLE, Texas (KRHD) — Watch the full story here:
Madisonville has launched a grant-funded street and drainage repair project targeting 5 of the city's worst roads, with work already underway.
The city has been working to get the project off the ground since 2024. Now, with funding from the General Land Office, construction has begun.
"This grant is going to completely transform these roads, and it's going to be very, very impactful to that neighborhood." Kelcey Young said.
The 5 roads included in the project — North Casey Street, Arrow Street, Memorial (First) Street, Bailey Street, and Thomson Street — are in need of significant repairs, with drainage improvements serving as another major focus.
"The project started a couple of weeks ago. We're really excited. They're out there working on drainage and getting things going right now on Arrow Street." April Theiss said.
"So these roads are some of the worst roads in our city, and some of them almost don't qualify as a road; they almost look like gravel roads. They are full of potholes." Young said.
Drainage work will include culvert replacements and ditch excavations, followed by complete road resurfacing.
"A lot of culvert replacement. We are going to have some ditches dug out as well and then having a complete road resurface," Theiss said.
The project has been welcomed by local officials and residents.
"Well, you know, first off, I mean, hats off to the city council and the city manager, Kelsey Young. I mean, they've done a great job on getting some of these grants. It's nice anytime you can use grant money instead of taxpayer money." Clark Osborne said.
I was told there are many areas of concern the city wants to work on, but officials are glad to see this project moving forward.
"A lot of our drainage all throughout the city needs to be replaced. We can't do all of that, but this is a good start." Young said.
"They've done a lot of repairs already to some existing streets, and I'm sure the 5 that they're talking about fixing probably need to be fixed. So hats off to them for that." Osborne said.
The city plans to have the project completed by the end of February 2027 and is applying for additional grants for more street repairs.
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