DETROIT – Do you live in the city and have a broken sidewalk in front of your home? Well, the City of Detroit would like to replace it.
On Tuesday, during the State of the City address, Mayor Mike Duggan announced the launch of a $25 million sidewalk replacement program and that work will take place in 2023.
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The city of Detroit has more than three million sidewalk flags on residential streets, and 15% are in need of replacement. The city typically spends nearly $4.5 million per year to replace broken sidewalk flags. But knowing that about 470,000 individual flags need to be replaced, that will cost the city nearly $170 million.
Read: What we learned during Mayor Duggan’s State of the City address
With the dedicated $25 million to repair sidewalks, it is possible that up to 70,000 damaged sidewalks will be replaced during construction season (May 1 through mid-November). This equates to about 80 miles of sidewalk in need of fixing.
The city will prioritize broken sidewalks using the following categories:
- Near schools, churches and parks
- Identified and requested by registered neighborhood block clubs
- Adjacent to city road resurfacing projects
- Requested by elderly and disabled residents
- Along city jurisdiction commercial corridors where cleanup and beautification is planned
- existing backlog of requests from prior years
Click here to request a sidewalk repair.
The city of Detroit states on its website that if a report is made within 60 days, an inspector will assess the damage of the sidewalk. The Detroit inspector will document the damages. The city said they cannot specify a time frame for repairs and repairs depending on the damage, time sensitivity and priority (listed above).
When it is time for your repair, a door hanger will be placed on our outside door three to five days before construction to give you notice. Concrete may take up to seven days to cure and be drivable after the task is completed.
There will be five crews that will partake in the repair of a sidewalk. A removal crew, a second crew who will re-grade the area and place boards for new concrete, a third crew who will pour and finish new concrete, a fourth crew who will remove boards for the new concrete and lastly, a restoration crew who will remove debris, fill in gaps and apply clean soil and seeds to disturbed areas.
For more information on the sidewalk program, click here.
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