The nation’s capital is nearing its goal of eliminating all poor quality roads across the city, according to D.C. leaders who provided an update Monday.
It is part of an annual project called “PaveDC,” which aims to fix up those crumbling roads by 2024.
According to Everett Lott, director of the D.C. Department of Transportation, the city is 88% of the way to meeting that goal.
“Spring is here, and we are getting back to the basics,” said Lott.
Since PaveDC was launched in 2018, the city has paved 500 miles of roadway, according to Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“We have restored more than 300 miles of sidewalks,” Bowser added.
This year’s plan includes roadway marking improvements, resurfacing 76 miles of roads, restoring 65 miles of sidewalk and fixing up 126 alleys.
“PaveDC uses road quality assessments and community requests to first address the streets that are in the greatest need, and are the highest priority to the community,” said Lott.
The D.C. Department of Public Works is contributing to the city’s spring cleaning through services such as street sweeping in designated neighborhoods, alley cleaning, residential yard waste collection, graffiti cleaning and grass mowing in public spaces.
Street sweeping service runs from March through October in designated neighborhoods.
“Our teams will be out cleaning alleys, filling potholes and paving roads,” said Bowser. “Residents can help us — both by making 311 requests for items that need our attention and by joining together with neighbors and using DPW’s Helping Hand program to organize neighborhood cleanups.”
Last year, according to D.C. leaders, the Department of Public Works covered 112 routes throughout all eight wards — representing roughly 394 miles of road — and its graffiti abatement team removed 1,644 graffiti tags and 1,559 illegal posters and stickers from public surfaces.
Residents can request those services by contacting 311 or using the 311 mobile app.
“Many think of winter as the most demanding season for DPW due to snow, but actually the arrival of spring keeps us busiest,” said Timothy Spriggs, the acting director of the public works department.
Bowser’s budget proposal, which is currently being considered by the D.C. Council, has additional related items, including $3.4 million to begin replacing every “Supercan” trash bins, $112 million to reconstruct sidewalks in all eight wards and $100 million to bring alleys into a state of good repair.
