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In the three weeks since the federal law enforcement surge in D.C. started, President Donald Trump has frequently criticized the city’s infrastructure, particularly its roads and medians, and is promising to fix it.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, though, said the city has made significant strides in upgrading its local roads and alleys over the last decade.
In the Oval Office on Monday, while signing an executive order about cashless bail, Trump said D.C. streets have been “swept immaculate, but they’re going to be much better in few months, when we put a topping on, they’re going to look brand new.”
Trump’s comments about D.C. roads come about five months after his late March executive order aimed at making D.C. safe and beautiful. The order called for a “coordinated beautification plan” for federal and local roads in and around D.C. It included plans for a coordinated federal and local approach to ensure roads stay clean.
But in the last decade, according to city data, D.C. has repaved over 850 miles of roads and almost 400 miles of sidewalks.
“I have had a significant effort on improving infrastructure, especially alleys, local streets, trees, lights throughout the District,” Bowser said during a news conference Wednesday.
Over half of all local roads and alleys were in poor or fair condition in 2015, the city said. Currently, 79% of local streets are in good or excellent condition, and 87% of alleys are in excellent or good condition.
On Monday, Trump said the administration will “get rid of those rusty old medians that have been crashed into 1,000 times, and they don’t fix them. They just … lay them down on the road, and they sit there for months. But we don’t do that.”
During remarks on Friday, Trump said Clark Construction has been picked to help with plans to beautify the city. He’s seeking $2 billion from Congress to fund that.
While the details are unclear, Bowser said the city “will be supportive of the president’s $2 billion request to improve infrastructure, especially federal infrastructure, in the District.”
Bowser described her Wednesday conversation with Trump as a “very high-level conversation.”
As for whether infrastructure was discussed, Bowser said, “I wouldn’t say it’s any different than what he’s already said about roads, medians and grass.”
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