WASHINGTON — Washingtonians are familiar with Potholepalooza, but now Mayor Muriel Bowser has launched the first-ever Alleypalooza.
The D.C. Department of Transportation will rehab or repair eight alleys in each of the city’s eight wards, or 64 total alleys, in eight weeks.
“When the Councilmember (Kenyan McDuffie) and I go to community meetings, we hear a lot about alleys because we have not invested consistently enough,” says Bowser.
One of the first alleys under reconstruction is at Galloway Street NE, near Eastern Avenue, where DDOT began work on Monday. DDOT says repair work should be complete at this location on Saturday.
“There are some basic services that government must deliver upon that we can do a better job at. That is making sure we pick up the trash, making sure we plow the snow, and making sure we pave our streets and alleys,” says McDuffie.
For DDOT, getting the work done before Sept. 11 is a lofty goal, but one the agency believes it can meet.
About $3.7 million has been set aside to repair or reconstruct the city’s alleys.
DDOT says it receives several hundred service requests each year on the more than 350 miles of alleys within the city.
