City of Detroit starts work to repave 81 miles of road, replace 70K damaged sidewalk squares

(WXYZ) — The City of Detroit has started work on its $95 million infrastructure improvement plan, aiming to repave 81 miles of roads and replace 70,000 sidewalk panels during the 2023 road construction season.

The breakdown, the city says, is 41 miles of local residential streets and 40 miles of major roads.

According to the city, in addition to the scheduled improvements, they will also be starting a streetscape project along Dexter and completing streetscapes on East Warren, West Warren and Rosa Parks Boulevard.

Courtesy City of Detroit

The construction season is expected to last until December, weather permitting.

The city says usually they spend about $4.5 million per year to replace broken sidewalk flags, but this year they have $25 million to make the fixes.

"That is five times what we would normally receive. So it's ... a great opportunity for us. Maybe we could only allocate funds to address tree damaged sidewalks. This allows us to do much more. It allows us to receive requests from the disabled community and give priority to those as well as senior citizens," said Detroit Public Works Director Ron Brundidge.

Speed hump installations will also continue this year.

"Now that we have the speed bumps, the cars have slowed down and so the ATVs have stopped coming down the street, which was another nuisance. So now we don't have that issue anymore. So it's worked out great for us," said Detroit resident Vicki Holmes, who has lived in the Minock Park neighborhood for 40 years.

According to the city, repairs are prioritized based on whether they are:

· Near schools, churches, and parks

· Identified and requested by registered neighborhood block clubs

· Requested by senior citizens and disabled residents

· Adjacent to city road resurfacing projects

· Along city jurisdiction commercial corridors where cleanup and beautification are planned for existing backlog of requests from prior years

“We are committed to improving the quality of life and creating opportunity for our citizens. In addition to providing needed road and sidewalk repairs, we are also requiring that 51% of the work be done by Detroiters so our residents can take part in the opportunities created through our infrastructure improvement projects,” said Detroit Public Works Director Ron Brundidge in a press release.

Take a look at the 2023 Road Construction Map below:

Courtesy City of Detroit

The city also released a list of their resurfacing projects: