INDIANAPOLIS — Making a positive change to a neighborhood is exactly what city officials are hoping to accomplish by resurfacing city streets in areas they say are historically underfunded.
“This represents at least the third time in three years that we have invested nearly $100 million in residential streets,” City County Councilor Zach Adamson said.
It's part of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works' residential resurfacing program, which has been restoring streets in needed areas since 2021.
“We have been able to target more than a dozen in this district this year alone and many more across the city,” Indy DPW Director Brandon Herget said.
Mayor Joe Hogsett has called for $25 million in the 2024 budget to be used for residential resurfacing. If approved the city said it will have allotted more than $100 million over three years specifically for neighborhood roads, according to a release issued Thursday.
“These sidewalks were horrendous – each sidewalk square was cracked like no tomorrow and each sidewalk square was 2 to 3 inches taller than the other one,” Indianapolis resident Greg Rink said.
A section of 17th Street between Rural Street and Brookside Parkway North Drive has been resurfaced as part of the project, and officials say the area also received updated sidewalks and ADA ramps.
“It was rough – lots of holes and it was all broken up,” Indianapolis resident Monica Breedlove said.
Breedlove and Rink live near where DPW’s resurfacing took place. They both say it’s going to bring change to the neighborhood.
“I see more kids using this road to bike down in comparison to the others because we do have those smooth streets,” Breedlove said.
Since the start of the program, city officials say nearly 400 road segments have been identified for upgrades, which will result in 86 lane miles of rehabilitated streets,18,600 linear feet of new sidewalks and 486 new ADA ramps.
