City crews to repave more than 200 miles of Chicago streets this year

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Construction season in Chicago has begun. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Transportation kicked off the 2018 street paving season Tuesday morning.

The city will tackle about 275 miles of city streets this year, to fix winter-battered roads left littered with nasty potholes.

"Paving is where the rubber meets the road here in the City of Chicago," Emanuel said. "As I said when we started our pothole the season just about a month ago, that was a patch to getting our roads paved."

The cold weather did a number on Chicago roads. According to the Chicago City Clerk's Office, where pothole vehicle damage reimbursement claims are filed, 733 claims were filed in 2017 and 600 claims were filed in 2016. Numbers for 2018 are still being tabulated.

The work is part of the "Building a New Chicago" infrastructure program. Officials said the Chicago Department of Transportation have saved $124 million since 2012 by making sure water mains, sewers, tunnels and even trails get fixed at the same time.

"We want to minimize disruption to residents and businesses so that when we open the streets, once everyone is working in the space, we don't go in the next year and dig up a newly resurfaced street. We are trying to do this right and get it right the first time and do it in a complete and quality way," Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said.

Drivers should keep an eye out for detours and temporary parking restrictions in each area slated for resurfacing.

The main arterial routes slated for repaving so far in 2018 are:

• 79th Street from Western to Cottage Grove (4 miles)
• 69th Street from Ashland to South Chicago (2.7 miles)
• Dr. Martin Luther King Drive from 111th Street to 115th Street ( 0.5 mile)
• Western Blvd. from 45th Street to Garfield Blvd. (1.25 miles)
• Damen Avenue from 33rd Street to Pershing Road (0.75 mile)
• Archer Avenue from Kolin Avenue to 47th Street (1.1 miles)
• Archer from Nottingham Avenue to Narragansett Avenue (0.9 mile)
• 67th Street from Ashland to Cottage Grove (3 miles)
• Humboldt Drive from Chicago Avenue to North Avenue (1 mile)
• North Avenue from Cicero to Central Park Avenue (1.5 miles)
• Augusta Blvd. from Grand Avenue to Milwaukee (2.5 miles)
• Wilson Avenue from Damen to LSD (1.7 miles)
• Elston Avenue from Melvina Avenue to Foster (2 miles)
• Addison Street from Keeler Avenue to Avondale Avenue (0.65 mile)
• Avondale Avenue/Gregory Street from Harlem Avenue to Moody Avenue (1.3 miles)

For a map of streets slated to be resurfaced, click here.