Improvements will continue as planned to north Edinburg’s La Hielera, also known as the Lull subdivision.

While much of the neighborhood’s roads have been stripped, residents say that progress has been at a standstill for weeks.

“Roughly about four [or five] weeks ago, they just completely stopped,” said Cristina Ozuna-De La Garza, who has long lived in the subdivision. “[They] got all their equipment and they left.”

Those weeks of waiting with unpaved roads have since caused dust stirrups to be a part of residents’ everyday life.

“There’s so much dirt everywhere,” Ozuna-De La Garza said. “We can’t even be outside. The wind blows — and there’s dust everywhere. Look at my car. We can’t even wash out vehicles or anything.”

To help combat the dirt, Texas Cordia Construction, a contracted company doing the work, has often sprayed down the affected roads with water to keep the dust levels down.

Officials with the city of Edinburg have attributed the slowdown to a shortage in the supplies needed for the drainage portion of the project, but Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza said Friday those materials have since been obtained. A tentative timeline states that the project is still set to be completed in full by September, weather permitting.

“They’re fully back on track and we’re hoping to gain some time and finish it as soon as we can,” Garza said. “It’s much-needed and we’re looking forward to its completion.”

Still, Ozuna-De La Garza and others question why work wasn’t done to other areas of the subdivision during the downtime where drainage work wasn’t necessary.

“We want to get a clear answer as to when they’re going to come and restart the sidewalks so they can continue with the drainage and they can continue with the streets,” she said. “We waited so many years for this project and we just — it seems that we just keep getting the runaround.”

Ozuna-De La Garza plans to speak alongside other neighbors during Edinburg City Council on Tuesday.

Ramiro Garza said what La Hielera is currently facing is that of a growing pain — one he hopes won’t last much longer.

“We just want to thank them for their patience, and [let them know] that we’re listening to their concerns… We’re not shy to give feedback in terms of, ‘We need to improve here. We need to improve there,’” he said. “We’re going to work as hard as we can to make sure that we get there and we address the much-needed improvements we need throughout the city.”