Chicago Still Has 75 Miles Of Streets That Haven't Been Improved Since The Great Depression
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Many Chicago streets are in bad shape; that's not a surprise, but did you know some of them date back to the Great Depression?
The city has about 75 miles of streets that were built in the 1930s, when the federal Works Progress Administration put Americans to work on infrastructure projects during the Great Depression.
These simple roads were built without engineered sidewalks, gutters, or drainage. Eighty years later, their dirt and gravel edges easily flood, and turn to thick mud.
About eight miles of those streets are in the 19th Ward on the South Side.
Ald. Matt O'Shea said a heavy SUV can create large ruts in those muddy edges.
"That is an eyesore, and frustrating to residents. Here you have these beautiful homes, with well-kept properties, and then you've got that. It's frustrating," he said.
Mary Freeman has lived on a WPA street for 34 years, but still can't seem to get a street with curbs.
"Mud, bedlam; it's not good," she said. "I had a workman have his van get stuck here, and he had to be towed out."
The last time O'Shea was able to upgrade a WPA street in his ward was in 2008. Since then, budget shortfalls have forced the city to cancel its costly WPA improvement program. Patching and top-coating are about the best his $1.3 million annual menu program budget can manage for now.
"Anything we do is essentially a Band-Aid. We don't have a solution. It's just too expensive," O'Shea said.
The city has roughly 500 blocks of WPA streets. The cost to upgrade just one of them is $300,000 to $500,000.
The 19th Ward has plans and cost estimates ready for execution, but efforts in the City Council to sell bonds and finance WPA improvements citywide have hit roadblocks, leaving residents frustrated.
"I've paid for gravel a number of times. It's not a good deal," Freeman said.
The last effort to finance a program to upgrade WPA streets was last fall, but it stalled in City Council.