Some East Fort Worth residents say walking in their neighborhood is like dodging obstacles in a war zone because of construction projects left unfinished.
"We've got holes, huge gaping holes, in the road that anybody can fall into," said Connie Bally, who live near Eastern Hills.
Bally said her daily walks with her dog have become dangerous. From the messy roadways, to the trash she said was dumped in front of one home for weeks, it's all part of capital improvement projects that ramped up around October, but then stalled.
"It just gets forgotten about and it shouldn't get forgotten about," she said.
Bally isn't the only one who wondered about city delays.
After a water main break at Brentwood Drive and Canterbury Circle on Dec. 12, a couple living on the corner told NBC 5 it took about seven hours from their first call to the city, to get the water department out to fix it. And nearly five more weeks for crews to return to make repairs.
"I know there were some challenges with the asphalt around that water main break and that was tied to the asphalt company being closed during the holidays," said Fort Worth City Councilman Cary Moon, who represents district 4.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
That case was an emergency situation, but a similar frustration for residents like Bally.
"Who oversees these projects? How can they start new ones before the old ones have been finished? How can they let this happen?" Bally asked.
Moon said in this part of town, there are older homes with above-ground utilities that create more challenges. Work stopped around the holidays, suppliers shut down and then came rain.
"Are we 100 percent efficient? No, no, the city is not 100 percent efficient. Are the contractors perfect? No, but we can show the schedule of how it was done, when it was done and how it was planned," he said.
Moon said there's money now to get these projects going and taxpayers won't foot the bill for setbacks. He said he's taking the complaints seriously and welcomes more residents to speak up.
"In the end, what we're dealing with is these contractors need to get their stuff done, they need to keep the job site clean and they need to pick up after themselves," the councilman said.
The contractor said the utility work should be done by March, but another phase with pavement could run until fall. Some good news --after complaints, some of the trash Bally had been dodging has been cleaned up.
