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Investigation | How Cleveland's road repair system is severely broken

Posted at 1:00 PM, Aug 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-01 13:21:23-04

For the last few years, 5 on Your Side investigators have detailed the ongoing woes of Cleveland’s streets, whether it be potholes plaguing neighborhoods or the lack of resurfacing residential roads.

But many viewers continue to ask us: What’s really going on with the city’s street system, and why aren’t many roads in good shape? Why is there a lack of consistency when it comes to paving, and why aren’t their depleted streets a priority?

A 5 on Your Side investigation found the strategy in which the city uses to determine which streets to fix is severely flawed. We uncovered the city has been using an outdated system, which surveyed thousands of streets and graded them for quality nine years ago, as a baseline.

More than a third of the city’s streets are rated "D" or "F," and only 10 percent are considered to be “A” quality. Also, despite city officials telling us they focus on the worst roads first when it comes to resurfacing, we went out to many of these streets to conduct our own analysis and learned that’s not always the case.

Join Investigator Jonathan Walsh on NewsChannel 5 at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday as we dig deeper into the issue of Cleveland’s ailing streets while holding city officials accountable, talking to frustrated residents and gaining the insight of a national expert. You may be shocked to learn where the city’s priority actually lies, and why your neighborhoods’ streets may not be getting the attention they deserve.