CALDWELL, Idaho — For more than six months, people living on Albany Street in Caldwell dealt with giant potholes, leftover construction equipment and torn-up concrete. That changed on Thursday after the city leveled the road after KTVB inquired about the issue.
KTVB originally talked with residents on Tuesday when the road was still in disarray.
"We can't even have people come to our house," Baylee Amyx said, "because it looks bad, and your car might get damaged while you're here."
Not only that, Amyx said the torn-up road lowered property values and created an unsafe environment for all the neighborhood kids.
The torn-up road was a result of an unfinished sewer line project, which will eventually run from 5th Avenue to 21st. Public Works Director Robb MacDonald said it will be the "backbone of our city."
But construction stopped suddenly last fall when the contractor pulled out of the project. City spokesperson Char Jackson said they believe the contractor went out of business.
During an interview on Tuesday, MacDonald said the city could not do much to help residents concerned about the street.
"In a situation like this, if [the contractor] doesn't finish the project or they walk away, then the insurance company is obligated to finish the project on their behalf," he said. "So, we're in a holding pattern right now."
But on Thursday, hours before KTVB's original story was set to air, city workers leveled the road. Jackson said the city stepped in because KTVB looked into the issue.
Amyx said she did not know how to feel about the city's progress. She called it "disappointing and shocking" since it took reaching out to a local news outlet to make some change.
"Now you randomly can do it," she said, "versus when it was just like us citizens calling and being like, our road is a disaster and then not giving us answers was semi disappointing that it took that much like push for them to do it."
Jackson said leveling the road is just a temporary fix; it is still not paved. The road will most likely get torn up again once the project starts back up.
Amyx said the city needs to communicate better in the future, an issue the city owned up to. As of now, the sewer line project will not get done until the insurance company finds another contractor.
"I just hope the city sticks to what they started," Amyx said.
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