Eligio Reyes says the asphalt next to his driveway was never put back after a water line repair. KENS 5 contacted SAWS and they fixed it that same morning.
SAN ANTONIO — Eligio Reyes had been waiting more than a month for the street in front of his driveway to get fixed.
Reyes said there was a water leak on his street in late September, and the San Antonio Water System quickly fixed it, but they didn’t put all the asphalt back.
“They got the water leak fixed right away, they were real good about that, but they never came back,” Reyes said last week.
As a result, Reyes now had a four-inch drop at the end of his driveway, where the street was missing, and his family was afraid to pull their car into the driveway. At the same time, Reyes is disabled and uses a walker to get to the car, so he needed the driveway.
Reyes said he eventually called SAWS in October and spent 45 minutes on the phone.
“I asked them, ‘It’s been a month already, when are you going to fix it up?’ They said they need to look for a work order,” Reyes said. “They never called me back.”
The street wasn’t fixed by the start of November either. Last Friday, Reyes finally called KENS 5.
“They wouldn’t send a truck out here, which is why I called KENS,” Reyes said.
But then, when KENS 5 brought the issue to SAWS’s attention Monday morning, SAWS immediately took action. In less than three hours, SAWS sent out a crew and had the street patched up. Reyes was able to use the driveway again before noon.
“This was a miracle! They finally came out and fixed the street,” Reyes said. “The car can drive up to the front door and I can get in it. I need it to go to doctors and everything else.”
SAWS spokeswoman Anne Hayden told KENS 5 that SAWS will later mill and overlay that section of street to finish the job. She said SAWS had been extremely busy with main breaks over the last two months:
“In San Antonio September and October were record months for main breaks,” Hayden said. “Our crews were focused on speed of repairs and reducing lost water. While we made the initial patch for the street, the functionality for Mr. Reyes was unacceptable and we made repairs.”
Reyes said he feels much safer now that he can use the driveway again. He’s glad SAWS fixed it and he’s glad he called KENS 5.
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