On Tuesday, South Bend Mayor James Mueller announced a draft of a 10-year plan to rebuild South Bend’s streets. In the short term, the city will invest $25 million in street repair over the next three years.
The plan is the result of a 2018 community survey that showed neighborhood street conditions were a big concern for South Bend residents.
Using the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system, the city has ranked which streets are most in need of repair. The ones that need structural fixes, as opposed to just patching or paving, will be repaired in a three-year span.
Mueller said the plan was designed to ensure roads would be fixed equitably across the city’s neighborhoods.
“Neighborhood infrastructure is a basic city service,” he said. “It shouldn’t matter what neighborhood you’re in, you should have roughly the same quality of service across the city.”
The city has made all of the street data available through an online dashboard. Residents can see how their streets rate, what repairs they’ll need and where those repairs fall in the timeline.
Residents can also submit feedback through the dashboard. Mueller says that feedback will be incorporated into the final version of the plan, which is expected later this month.
If the Common Council approves funding, construction on the first group of streets is scheduled to begin this summer.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.
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