LANSING, Mich. — Currently, streets and sidewalks in Lansing are repaired every 50 years or more, but what if you had the opportunity to help speed up the pace?
Many complain about road and sidewalk conditions throughout Lansing, but would residents be willing to pay more each year to get their neighborhood roads fixed faster? According to a city survey released on Thursday, about half of Lansing residents say they would.
"I definitely would be, yes," Deanna Broadwater, a Lansing resident, said.
Broadwater lives off of Capital Avenue in Lansing and knows first-hand about the city's uneven sidewalks and roads.
"I moved here and I immediately had to get a car with 4-wheel drive because that is just what it takes to get around here, so it's been a little rough," Broadwater said.
Lansing said they've budgeted $10 million for nearly $300 million of road repairs, which is why the city is considering a voluntary program that would allow residents in a neighborhood to pay up to 50% of the cost of having their streets and sidewalks resurfaced in order to expedite repairs.
And Broadwater is all for that program.
"My last car, the amount of damaged that occurred dodging potholes, and the damage that it did over the last three years to my car, would have paid for that quite frankly," she said.
According to a Community Traffic Survey that was released on Thursday, Broadwater is part of the 44% of the city that would be interested in paying about $100 extra each year for up to seven years in order to get their street repaired quicker.
However, 46% of Lansing residents are not interested.
"We can use those numbers to say 'does this make sense to talk to that half who is willing to, engage them to get theirs fixed?' It will lessen our burden and then we will use the dollars from the gas tax for the remaining streets," Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said.
The city said they will continue to explore this option and also brainstorm other options on how to make sidewalk and street upgrades within a limited budget.
"Neighborhood roads are important, we do a lot of pot hole repairs, like 5 to 6,000 and we have Lansing Connect where people can report it and we will be there in 48 hours so we have options, and we have resources and we will make that decision as we go forward," Mayor Schor said.
Mayor Schor said his office will use the new year to consider these options for road and sidewalk repairs. He said he has no intention to put this option on a ballot, but rather to assess interested neighborhoods individually.
The Community Traffic Survey was taken by 1,400 residents.
The city is currently creating a new survey that will focus on budget priorities and that survey will be available in early 2020.
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