HOUSTON – A plan that would go beyond just repairing potholes and extending the life of streets and making them last longer, that is Houston Mayor Silvester Turner’s goal.

His new Street Rehabilitation program is designed to improve nearly 300 miles of Houston roadways by the end of this year, with a goal of eventually touching 100% of Houston streets in the time to come.

Everyone who travels on City of Houston streets, whether they are driving, walking or biking should do so in a safe and equitable manner, according to Mayor Turner.

This program launched in the Sunnyside neighborhood, on the 7700 block of Jutland where street surfaces are being rehabilitated, drainage is improving, curbs will be fixed, to create a safe more sustainable community.

how are neighborhoods picked?

-Public Works will conduct their research, analyzing streets in all 11 districts and will determine the condition and rideability. Based on that, they’ll focus on the percentage of streets that need the MOST work.

what are they doing to “rehab” these roadways?

-they’ll be fixing street surfaces, fixing curbs, storm drains, sidewalks, and making ramps more accessible.

what did you learn?

-when the city decides to completely reconstruct a roadway--it takes longer and more money. They can only work on 15 to 20 roadway miles per year. Rehabilitating these roads allows them to work faster, their goal is to fix more than 300 miles per year.