Newport News’s Road Repair Crisis: Residents Accuse City Leaders of Corruption and Incompetence
“The city has a major problem with the way the repair and maintenance are managed by corrupt government leaders that couldn’t plan a trip to the grocery store let alone a major road construction project,” one longtime Newport News resident told local media on condition of anonymity, voicing a frustration shared by many who have watched the same stretches of road get patched, repatched, and then torn up again.
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Newport News, Va. — February 16, 2026 — Potholes, cracked pavement, and endless construction delays have become the new normal on Newport News streets, fueling growing anger among residents who say the city’s Street Maintenance Division is failing them — and that the root problem runs far deeper than bad weather or tight budgets.
The city’s Street Maintenance Division is responsible for maintaining Newport News’s extensive network of local roadways, bridges, and curb-and-gutter infrastructure. Officials maintain a public reporting system through the 311 Contact Center and a dedicated street maintenance line (757-933-2311). Yet drivers continue to dodge craters on major corridors, and complaints about slow response times and shoddy workmanship have only grown louder on local social media and neighborhood forums.
Critics point to a pattern: projects that balloon in cost, contracts that seem to favor the same handful of companies, and leadership that appears more focused on ribbon-cuttings than on getting the work done right the first time. Past scandals — including recent cases in which Vice Mayor Curtis D. Bethany III and Councilman John Eley were found to have misused city credit cards for personal expenses — still linger in the public memory, even though the officials repaid the funds and faced no criminal charges.
Mayor Phillip Jones, who took office in 2023 as the city’s youngest directly elected mayor, has repeatedly pledged to prioritize infrastructure. In public statements, city leaders blame aging infrastructure, supply-chain issues, and the sheer volume of roads that need attention after years of underinvestment.
But for residents who hit the same pothole for the third time in two years, the explanations ring hollow.
“Every election cycle we hear the same promises,” said another driver who asked not to be named. “Then the cones go up, the traffic gets worse, and six months later the road is worse than before. Meanwhile the people making the decisions never have to drive these streets every day.”
City Council is expected to discuss the FY2027 budget in the coming months, with street and bridge funding once again on the table. A growing number of residents and business owners are calling for an independent audit of the Street Maintenance Division and stricter oversight on how maintenance contracts are awarded.
Until then, Newport News drivers will keep doing what they’ve been doing: swerving, reporting through 311, and wondering why a city that once prided itself on progress can’t seem to keep its own roads from falling apart.
