City Residents Want Alleys Paved

Peggy McNamara has a Toyota four-wheel-drive truck and still cringes when she must drive the alley behind her Shadle Park home.

“There’s quite a big old gully right in the middle of it,” said McNamara, 36, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base.

“The main thing is the dirt and the dust,” said neighbor Joe Perdue, a retiree. “There have been fights over this alley. Otherwise it would have been done along ago.”

After several tries to gain support for alley paving, a majority of those living around Elm and Oak, between Queen and Everett, have agreed to assess themselves $1,552 each to pay for paving.

Most older city neighborhoods still have alleys, although the city doesn’t maintain them. If neighbors want pavement, they must petition the city and agree to pick up the costs - between $1,500 and $2,000 per owner.

More residents seem willing to do that. Last year the city paved only one alley, while nine are being planned for this summer.

Another North Side alley project, Nebraska/Rowan, between Napa and Crestline, also went to bid last week.

There are 183 miles of alley in the city, the majority of which are not paved. From a construction standpoint, an alley is more difficult to pave than other areas because of garage approaches, utility poles and narrow working conditions, city engineers said.

“Have you ever gone out on a dirt alley on a muddy day?” said Brad Blegen, city engineer. “That’s why most people get their alley paved.

“They’re tired of fighting the mud and the ruts. If they can afford it, they usually want it done.”

McNamara circulated the paving petition in her neighborhood, and it took more than a year to gain enough support for the project and city approval.

Other North Side alley projects set for this summer include: Carlisle/ Montgomery - Lincoln to Post; Kiernan/Gordon - Oak to Ash; Gordon/Glass - Monroe to Post; Columbia/Joseph - Standard to 300 East; Crown/Everett - Alberta to Cochran; and Queen/Olympic - Nettleton to Belt.