By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – The city of Bloomington is redoubling its efforts to fix its crumbling streets by increasing its financial commitment to road resurfacing this year.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Hales on WJBC.

The $207 million budget alderman approved on Monday increases calls for about $5 million in road work.

“We have a lot of aggressive work scheduled for the streets and the underground utilities underneath those streets scheduled for the next five-to-eight-year period,” city manager David Hales said.

Hales told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the city council will review a proposal at a Committee of the Whole Meeting to borrow some money for future street repairs.

Hales said the street resurfacing budget would likely be in the $8 million range annually, which he said would not include major projects such as Hamilton Road and Fox Creek Roads which would include state and federal transportation money.

Hales added the city will publish the list of streets that will be improved once it hires a contractor within the next month.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].