December 1, 2011
It’s nothing new to wake up hearing trucks or other equipment running around this area so I wasn’t concerned at first. But when I kept hearing a backup alarm regularly that I decided to go outside and take a look.
There in the middle of my yard was a TxDot grader pushing dirt around. I informed my wife who immediately confronted the blade operator about why he was tearing up our yard. After a bit of waffling around, the operator first and then the straw-boss explained it was necessary for drainage for the road. They asked what we wanted them to do. She explained that we mow it and the ruts and ridges were hard on the mower as well as the person operating it and could they get a crew to rake it smooth. We were then told that’s not going to happen. Apparently this crew wasn’t going to do anything that didn’t involve setting down.
We’re were then given the number of a supervisor to call. We contacted Preston Massey at 
Texas Department of Transportation who informed us that he’d just driven by and they were working in the right of way. He did agree to put out some grass seed which they did the following Monday.
From my experience in mowing up to the edge of the road, I knew there was a 15′ or so area where the road had sunk and it was holding water but with the ground already sloping downhill, it only needed a light cut along the roadway edge instead of the mess they created.
From topsoil getting stripped and grass either torn up or covered up, we now have an erosion problem. Every time it’s rained since then, I see water that’s brown from dirt runoff in the drainage ditch behind our house.
The Texas Department of Transportation normally does a bang up job. Our roads are some of the best in the country. I don’t deny their right to maintain the right-of-way. I do question where TxDot’s rights ends and our homeowners rights begin. There was no need for the mess they made. The least they could do would be to smooth it all out so we can mow it.