Say goodbye to potholes, because the City of Detroit wants to ensure you have smooth sailing as you travel across its newly paved streets. The Department of Public Works (DPW) kicked off the 2023 road construction season with plans to complete $95 million worth of road and sidewalk improvements.
For residents on Midland St., the morning of a newly resurfaced street couldn’t come fast enough.
“I always called it the rollercoaster street because it was so wavy and you could really damage your vehicle,” said Vicki Holmes, President of the Minock Park Block Association. “We appreciate that the city is now making us a priority. This is a throughway from Grandriver and Fenkell, so cars fly down here.”
Holmes has been a resident of the west-side neighborhood for 40 years. The roars of the street machinery paving down hot asphalt were great news to Lewis Martin, who has been a resident for a decade and knows what this means for the area.
“We have a lot of speeders and the fact that we’re also getting speed bumps will deter a lot of that speeding,” Martin said. “We have a lot of kids around…it gives me great joy that the City is listening to our Association.”
City workers plan to repave 81 miles of major and residential roads while also installing new speed humps to reduce speeding in neighborhoods. The City has installed over 10,000 speed bumps since the beginning of its program in 2018.
The investment in infrastructure that addresses potholes and encourages drivers to stick to the speed limit in neighborhoods is of great importance for the department.
“I don’t hear a lot about potholes all over the city,” said Ron Brundridge, Director of DPW. “Over the last eight or nine years, we have had expanded road improvement programs, and it has really made a difference throughout the city. We must continue to have an ongoing maintenance program in place.”
The City is also proud to point out its efforts to be inclusive, with more Detroiters being a part of the infrastructure workforce.
“I’m very excited that through all the work done by our contractors, what you see today are city crews paving this neighborhood street, but we also utilize contractors to pave this neighborhood street.”
“We require that 51 percent of the work be done by Detroit residents for all of our contracts.”
The department will also start a new streetscape project along Dexter and complete three new streetscapes along commercial corridors on East Warren, West Warren, and Rosa Parks Boulevard. It’s all part of a city effort to beautify and restore commercial corridors throughout Detroit in an inclusive way that involves residents.
“We have multiple meetings with folks and businesses in the neighborhoods so we can first identify what their desires are, and then we design a streetscape project that aligns with their neighborhood.”
Forty-one miles of residential streets and 40 miles of major roads will be improved in 2023. Most residential streets will be paved by city crews, while contractors will pave the major roads. All contracts will be awarded through the city’s procurement process.
Some major thoroughfares planned for improvements throughout the city this year include segments of W. Vernor, Harper, McNichols, Meyers, Conant, and 7 Mile Road.
The city also plans to expand its sidewalk replacement program this year, which brings welcome news to thousands of Detroit residents. According to the City of Detroit, it spends about $4.5 million per year to replace broken sidewalk flags that are damaged by city trees located between the curb and sidewalk.
With an additional $20.5 million in budget surplus funds approved by the Detroit City Council, this year the city will have a $25 million sidewalk improvement program.
Funding for the road projects will come from a combination of federal and state transportation funds, as well as road bond funds.
Under this year’s expanded sidewalk replacement program, up to 70,000 damaged of missing sidewalk sections (approx. 80 miles) will be replaced this construction season.
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