BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — Bloomington city council signed off on $5 million worth of road resurfacing for the fiscal year 2023.
This is the city’s public works department’s annual resurfacing project; they do this sort of general resurfacing work yearly. Engineering staff drive the streets and use a system that rates the roads based on wear and tear as well as other factors.
Public Works Director Kevin Kothe said the city completes work in a measure of lane miles, or the mile of roadway in a single driving lane. This year, the city plans on completing 13.1 lane miles of work across the city streets.
Major roads include Lincoln Street near Veterans Parkway, Oakland Avenue near Veterans Parkway and parts of MacArthur Avenue.
Every year, the city’s contract for general resurfacing is around $5 million and $2 million for concrete or sidewalk resurfacing.
Kothe said city council prioritizes roadwork, however increased costs are affecting how much work they can get done. This year alone, paying around 13-14% more on asphalt.
“Obviously prices have gone up but also the city has grown, the number of streets we take care of has grown,” Kothe said. “City council is making an effort to prioritize streets, maybe it’s still not enough but they continue to want to improve it, so I applaud them for that.”
Kothe says they’ll also bid additional roadwork in the next couple month and that extra street and sidewalk repair is being funded from $2 million in ARPA funds.
In total, $9 million will be spent on improving roads and sidewalks.
