NEAR ELSA – A stop sign near homes was completely covered by leaves and brush.

A homeowner asked CHANNEL 5 NEWS to look into the stop sign off Mile 6 Road and Mile 16 near Elsa.

Daniel Garcia and his family drive through the area every day. Their home is at the end of the road.

“It's dangerous,” Garcia said. “There was a car here where a woman died after crashing into the house.”

Garcia is talking about a stop sign along the cross street to a busy roadway. It was completely covered by vines and leaves.

“It's a stop sign here and they have never cleaned it at all,” Garcia said. “The same with the street, they've never fixed it up. This road looks pretty bad." 

Along the way we found a nearby stop sign leaning. Hidalgo County Precinct 1 Commissioner David Fuentes said they are the responsibility of Hidalgo County.

"We've got to do a better job of monitoring that situation,” Fuentes said when asked how the stop sign became so overgrown. “Now that it's on our radar, we'll make sure that we appropriately address that issue.”

The foliage gave way to a bright red stop sign. The county cleaned it within minutes of our interview.

"When the community calls and we receive these, we advise our traffic control specialists and safety people,” Fuentes said. “We engage them and get them rolling quickly."

The resolution should clear up confusion for drivers and neighbors. The county also reinforced the leaning stop sign just down the road.

Now that these issues are addressed, Fuentes said they will focus on road improvements. There are many unpaved county roads which need to be upgraded or maintained.

“We’re in the process of looking at some assessments right now,” Fuentes said. “Give it a grade essentially as to how stable it is if there’s cracking, potholes. Determine if it needs major repair work or if it’s even repairable. We have to do an entire assessment of our precinct and then try to assess how many people use that road on a regular basis.”

There are ways anyone can report maintenance issues like these. If someone has an issue in Precinct 1, they can contact the commissioner's office at 956-968-8733.

If it is a larger, Texas Department of Transportation maintained roadway issue, anyone can contact TxDOT at 1-800-558-9368 and they will connect them with the local office in charge of that roadway.