Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced that the City of Chicago has paved more than 100 miles of streets in 2016, moving the City closer to the goal of delivering a modern transportation system to every neighborhood. The City is building on the success of the last five years under Mayor Emanuel’s leadership in which more than 1,450 miles of streets have been repaved by the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), Department of Water Management (DWM) and private utilities.

“No matter what neighborhood you live in, every Chicagoan deserves streets that are in good condition,” Mayor Emanuel said. “City crews have made great progress in 2016 so far and we are continuing to push toward our ultimate goal of delivering a 21st-Century infrastructure and improving quality of life for every resident on every block in the City of Chicago.”

This year to date, CDOT has completed the repaving of approximately 34 miles of residential streets, more than 11 miles of arterial streets and almost 7 miles of alleys. DWM has repaved more than 56 miles of City streets as part of its program of restoring streets that have had new water mains and/or sewers installed.

“We’ve been working hard to improve the condition of city streets, repaving about one third of the streets since 2011,” CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said.  “And this year we worked with local Aldermen and started paving earlier in the season. This will help us complete more work during the height of construction season when the weather is optimal for paving.”

Starting next week, residents will see repaving projects starting up on a number of arterial routes all across the City. Among the major arterial routes scheduled for resurfacing in the coming weeks are the following:

·         Yates Boulevard from 79th Street to South Chicago Avenue

·         Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from 87th Street to 95th Street

·         Pershing Road from State Street to Cottage Grove Avenue

·         California Avenue from 63rd Street to Marquette Road

·         Central Park Avenue from Roosevelt Road to Cermak Road; and from 26th Street to 31st Street

·         Washington Boulevard from Austin Boulevard to Laramie Avenue

·         Kedzie Avenue from Howard Street to Devon Avenue

·         Broadway from Devon Avenue to Foster Avenue

CDOT, the Department of Water Management and private utilities paved 297 miles of City streets last year.

To ensure the City is not only increasing investment in street repaving projects, but also investing more efficiently, coordination on infrastructure projects has been improved. Through CDOT’s Project Coordination Office, City infrastructure departments and utilities have worked together to reduce the amount of project conflicts that would require opening up a street more than once. These coordination efforts have reduced traffic-related inconveniences and generated $73 million in savings since 2012.

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