TAMPA — Looking at her car, Tampa resident Kobi Meares is reminded of all the times she has had to fix it recently.

What You Need To Know

  • Residents are concerned about disrepair on Tampa roads

  • Some roads need resurfacing to fix potholes and other issues

  • The city has projects in the works to address the issue

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“We’ve had to replace three tires within three months,” Meares said. “We’re a low income family. We don’t have the money to fix all this at one time."

After living in Tampa for more than 20 years, she has a theory for why her car is in the shop a lot: the poor condition of the roads near her home.

“I call them sink hole streets. The terrify me going down them,” Meares said.

She took Spectrum News on a ride along 30th Street to Bruce B Downs Boulevard near USF, pointing out cracks and potholes along the way.

“I do defensive driving because of the tire already being bad. But you can see they just patch them. There’s a deep one right there,” Meares said.

It’s not just 30th St she is concerned about. Many roads in that area are in disrepair.

And while many of the pot holes do end up getting patched by city crews, she feels more can be done to fix the roads up long term.

City officials say they do have a repaving project scheduled for that area, but it was delayed due to the hurricanes.

In the meantime, crews try to patch road issues through the city’s Fix It Fast program.

“Instead of patching the street, we’d like to see them fixing and paving the whole street,” Meares said.