Who says road building can't be downright neighborly? City of Navasota officials traveled to Teague in mid-September to advise city officials on a road rehabilitation process that is helping them transform their small Texas town. The process is full-depth recycling with cement, which involves pulverizing the existing road surface and base and then adding cement to form a new bonded base.
No booming metropolis itself, Teague (population 3,268), was trying to figure out how to rebuild its aging road system with a slim-to-none budget. Enter Navasota.

"If there's a way we can help somebody, we're going to do it," says Gary Johnson, Navasota's public works director. "We know what they're facing." Navasota is currently winding up a successful four-year effort to upgrade its road. Like Teague, it started with little money and few resources. Still, Navasota officials found recycling to be so cost effective and simple, they've managed to quickly convert their rutted roadways to sturdy streets.

Now, it's Teague's turn. Jeff Looney, Teague's city manager, boned up on the recycling process for a year and visited Navasota to review their program. Ron Akin, Navasota's street superintendent and a veteran blade operator, volunteered to visit Teague and consult Looney on the process.

"He's a great guy," says Looney of Akin. "He was a mentor. He really took me under his wing and showed me the ropes."

Bill Morgan, a project manager for Young Contractors Inc., Waco, also shared his extensive field knowledge of the process with Looney. Young Contractors has performed several recycling projects for the City of Waco and the Texas Department of Transportation.

After some minimal training, Looney and his crew managed to recycle nearly 2 miles of city streets. In a small town that translates to four neighborhoods positively affected, says Looney. And since one of the recycled roads runs in front of an elementary school, "the entire school district was affected," he adds.

Though the city allotted about $100,000 for the project, Looney says he believes the final costs will be tens of thousands of dollars less. He has already budget $150,000 for 2003 and hopes to continue upgrading roads with cement every year until there are no more.

It just makes sense, says Looney. "Why keep socking $25,000 into cold mix (for pothole repair), when you can apply that money into the roads," says Looney. Not only did the program give his street crew a sense of purpose and bring them together as a team, says Looney, it also brought the community together. Says Looney: "I keep getting positive reinforcement for what we've done. The community deserves to have good roads."