Phila. will spend $30 million to fix roads

Philadelphia will spend nearly $30 million this year to repair 110 miles of roadway across the city.

Of that amount, $12.7 million is being funded through federal economic stimulus money, with some spending scheduled to begin this summer on repairing, building, or replacing curb ramps. Other stimulus dollars will be spent next spring to repave city streets that are designated as "federal aid street routes."

The remainder of the projects are financed by the city.

At a news conference yesterday afternoon, Mayor Nutter said the work would create an estimated 160 jobs through city contracts awarded for some repaving.

Plans have yet to be settled on for which streets will see work first and what detour routes will look like, officials said.

This is the first street improvement project funded by the stimulus plan, and securing the money was "no small feat," said Rina Cutler, deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities.

"It's about putting Philadelphians, Americans, Pennsylvanians back to work," Nutter said at a news conference at Second Street and Champlost Avenue, one of the areas set aside for repavement using American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money. The act is meant to create jobs throughout the nation to help boost the economy and improve the unemployment rate.