365 miles of Clearwater sidewalks get a facelift

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A major effort is underway to repair hundreds of cracked, buckled and damaged concrete in Clearwater as crews repair a backlog of about five years worth of resident-reported issues.

"The city manager is focused on giving back to the neighborhoods and building these neighborhoods back up. And one way to do that is to start fixing the infrastructure that's been broken," explained Roger Johnson, Clearwater’s engineering manager.

That list had about 220 locations.  Some are easy fixes, while others can be complicated and involve removing trees.  So far, crews have crossed 109 of those issues off the list, making Clearwater’s 365-miles of sidewalks safer.

"Our study showed surprisingly that 80% of the sidewalk is satisfactory," Johnson stated.

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To get a better idea of the overall condition, the city is working to build a new 3D imagery program.  Using a truck-mounted LIDAR device, the sidewalks are all being scanned to create an index official can use to plan and prioritize repairs.

"It's bigger than just repairing things. It's holistically looking at the network and how to connect point A to point B. And if there are gaps, how do we fill those," said Johnson.

The database should be complete by the end of the year. The goal is to speed up the process of fixing sidewalks throughout the city. In 2022 alone, the city is spending an estimated $1.62 million on sidewalk improvements.  

City officials are asking anyone who sees a sidewalk in need of repair to contact them.