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Nearly half of Kansas City roads below fair condition

A quarter of citizens satisfied with maintenance
Posted at 5:05 PM, Sep 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-06 19:24:36-04

New data released by the city of Kansas City Tuesday shows nearly half of city roads are below fair condition.

Stantec, a company hired by the city to perform a survey of roadways, concluded 45 percent of roads fell in the poor, very poor, serious or failed categories.

Slide courtesy the city of Kansas City

Beth Breitenstein with Kansas City Public Works said Stantec measured pavement distress like cracks, splintering, potholes, crowns and distortion.

“I think we’re dealing with aging roads. But we’re in the Midwest and we’re in a weather changing area of the country, too,” said Breitenstein. “Several factors cause roads to wear and tear.”

Faith in the city maintaining roads is low, too. A survey by the city discovered about a quarter of citizens in Kansas City are satisfied with the maintenance of city streets, sidewalks and infrastructure.

Slide courtesy the city of Kansas City

“We maintain 6,000 miles of lane roads. That’s a huge responsibility; we take that responsibility very seriously,” said Breitenstein.

Breitenstein said the city will use the new data to formulate a concise plan to address both public perception and road quality and hopes to get citizen satisfaction to 30 percent by 2018.

“Restructuring our priorities is really the main thing,” said Breitenstein.

 

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Post your photos of streets you feel need attention on our Facebook page. 

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Brian Abel can be reached at brian.abel@kshb.com. 

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