CLEVELAND — After five years in the making and several delays, the 50/50 sidewalk repair program is finally making progress.
The program officially launched in 2022, but has been part of the City’s plans for about five years, according to the City of Cleveland.
News 5 last spoke with James “Jim” Friedl in late July about the cracked and broken sidewalk outside of his home.
Friedl said he paid the City of Cleveland $780 as part of the 50/50 sidewalk repair program more than a year ago.
“I'm just getting tired of waiting... waiting for answers,” he previously said. “I don’t think it’s fair.”
The City of Cleveland Assistant of the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects, Keshia Chambers, said the reason for delays was there weren’t enough workers available to complete projects.
A bidding process reopened for local contractors this year, and three were selected. The City’s Division of Streets is also working on repairs.
Additionally, the City has previously stated the items associated with the 50/50 program were substantially higher than in previous years, which raised the price to a point that wouldn’t be affordable for the City or its residents.
“The increased workload required additional equipment to be purchased and additional personnel that needed to be hired – both of which have been completed,” the city told News 5 in late July.
On Wednesday, Friedl’s sidewalk was finally smooth and safely walkable.
“It looks a lot better than [it] did before, especially in front of my steps. It’s kind of hard to shovel there when it snows. Hopefully it’s better whenever we get snow,” Friedl explained.
Chambers said the city has completed 71 sidewalk repairs through the program.
“We have about 35 that are in what is called [the] ‘punch list,’ where the work was just completed. We're just going through and making sure that the work is done successfully and meets our requirements,” Chambers said.
At least 85 sidewalks have yet to be completed, but Chambers estimates those will be finished in 30 days.
“We're always evaluating the program and we're actually now looking at some other ways to execute this, so possibly we can move a little faster – maybe adding some different construction crews to our team so we can continue to cycle the work through,” Chambers stated. “It's just an iterative process where we just continue to look at what we receive, what our constituents are telling us about the work, what the demand looks like and how we can just continue to provide this program to our constituents.”
Chambers was unable to share what else is in store for the program other than contracting more workers.
“I hope they do get them done faster,” Friedl said.
If you’re interested in participating in the 50/50 sidewalk repair program, CLICK HERE for more information.
Chambers does warn new applicants that those pending projects will need to be completed first before they add anymore to the docket.
