South Bend has released a draft for its Rebuilding Our Streets Plan. It calls for a $25 million investment in the city’s streets over a three-year period from 2021 to 2023.
Work on the city’s streets will be based on data that looks at current and projected street conditions, which should help to determine the best repair or maintenance techniques. The plan will also include improvements to neighborhood streets that have seen deteriorated conditions over time.
The long-term goals include a ten-year plan, which prioritizes the improvement of streets that have the lowest Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) scores. PASER assigns a rating from 1-10 with 1 being the worst possible condition and 10 being a newly-paved street. The goal is to improve the average street quality throughout South Bend, while also creating geographical equity.
“During my conversations with residents throughout South Bend, I have heard loud and clear that our streets are in desperate need of improvement,” said Mayor James Mueller. “This plan lays out short-term and long-term goals to make meaningful progress on the quality of our streets, including those that have been overlooked in the past.”
The Rebuilding Our Streets Plan includes a draft shortlist of the streets that have been identified for paving over the next three years. An online dashboard has also been created for residents to view the PASER rating of every street in South Bend.
Residents can read the full plan at southbendin.gov/streetsplan. You can also provide input via the online survey that is found on that webpage.
