The City of Wichita is starting a ten-year program to pave residential dirt streets across the city.

Interim City Engineer Paul Gunzelman said there are about 160 lane miles of dirt streets in Wichita, and many of them are in established areas that were developed decades ago.  He said the city’s capital improvement program includes funding of $35 million over the next ten years to pave 26 percent of the dirt streets.  The first priority will be to pave dirt streets near schools, and that is expected to take about four years.  The next priority will be to make paving improvements in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where residents would have a hardship with special assessments for street projects.

The City Council has approved a budget of $1.5 million for 2024 that will involve 17 projects.  The streets to be paved include portions of Battin Drive, 16th Street North, Poplar Street, 35th Street South and 1st Street North.   Residents will be notified by door hangers before the work begins.   The 2024 funding is expected to pave about two percent of the city’s total number of dirt streets.