The city spent $669,000 to repair sidewalks along West Club Boulevard as part of a larger $6 million sidewalk repair project. But now residents say the work has made the sidewalks less walkable and less accessible.
Frustrated residents have gone back and forth with the city for months, attempting to get the problems fixed. Yet puddles at the intersections make the sidewalks impassable and steep inclines make them unusable for people in wheelchairs, residents say.
“It’s aggravating,” resident Sam Rodgers said. “But for people with accessibility issues, it’s a real problem.”
And then there’s the timing. The city is replacing water and sewer lines along Club Boulevard starting in March, at a cost of $20 million. Residents say the utility project should have happened before the sidewalk repairs.
“They’re going to have to undo what they just did and then redo it again,” Rodgers said. “It’s just like, ‘How does that kind of decision happen?’”
City officials say they are working on solutions.
“The Public Works Department is working now with a contractor to develop a solution for these curb ramp locations along W. Club Blvd.,” Public Works Director Marvin Williams said.
But residents remain frustrated.
‘It’s a real problem’
The city completed the West Club Boulevard sidewalks project in July. Soon after, water began to pool at crosswalks of three intersections — which residents say worsened a problem that began before the repair project. After heavy storms, water several inches deep makes the intersections impassable for more than a week, residents say. With the extreme weather of the past two months, the water has often frozen over, creating dangerous ice at the corners.
“It’s aggravating to walk out in such a convoluted way to cross the road,” Rodgers said “But for people with accessibility issues, it’s a real problem, because you can’t go through it.”
Architect Sasha Berghausen has lived on Club Boulevard since 2004. He was so bothered by the sidewalk work that he went out and measured the curb ramps with a laser.
Berghausen says the inclines are so steep that they violate accessibility standards — a claim that city officials dispute.
Residents have been complaining to the city about the sidewalk work for months. Berghausen alerted the city’s public works division to the problems on Nov. 15.
In response, Senior Public Works Engineer Carol Teabo emailed: “The water holding problem can only be resolved when the street gets milled back to normal crown and resurfaced… Once that work is done (1 to 2 years?), then the road can be repaved and fixed.”
Berghausen wasn’t satisfied. “Why should anyone live with the way they are for years before a fix comes?”
Berghausen also emailed the city on Jan. 29 about the sidewalk’s potential accessibility violations but received no response. Many neighborhood residents also have lodged complaints using Durham One Call.
The city is awaiting a quote from the contractor to do the repairs, Public Works Director Williams said in a Feb. 25 email to The 9th Street Journal.
“There are several variables that must be mitigated including: the elevation of the existing gutter, past and future proposed paving, trees, grade of the main road and side roads, the upcoming waterline rehab project, and PROWAG (Public Right-of-Way Guideline) compliance,” he wrote.
The next day, on Feb. 26, construction workers showed up at the intersection of Club Boulevard and Alabama Avenue and repaired that section of sidewalk.
However, residents say the problems are not fixed. Water is still pooling at the intersection, they say.
“There’s been no change in the curb ramp,” said Fred Peterson, board president of the neighborhood association. “The contractors just came back and replaced it exactly like it was.”
City Public Works Department officials say the recent repair was to “repair a crack that had formed from improperly placed joints. This repair did not cost the City any money, nor was it to address the ponding issue.”
Out of order?
Residents also question whether the city wasted money by doing the sidewalk project first — ahead of another big city project along Club Boulevard. Next month, the city is set to begin a $20 million utility project along the street. The project will replace 10,100 feet of sanitary sewer main and 800 feet of storm drainage.
During a Feb. 13 public meeting about the project, Wade Tong, a city construction project administrator, stated:
“Public Works are also the ones who came and did the sidewalks project which we’re going to be affecting some of, because they weren’t supposed to do it until after we did it.”
Public Works Director Williams downplayed the upcoming utility projects’ effects.
“The impact to the sidewalks during the Utility Rehabilitation Project is expected to be minimal and should not impact the curb ramps,” he said in an email to The 9th Street Journal.
Going forward, the city will be making even more repairs to various sidewalks around town. Voters approved a bond during the November 2024 election allowing the city to borrow $115 million for improvements to streets and sidewalks.
“If this is how they’re handling this stuff, is that money going to get spent correctly?” Rodgers said. “Are they just gonna waste it on doing and redoing the same sidewalks over and over again, because they’re not doing things in order?”
Above: The intersection of West Club Boulevard Maryland Avenue after a recent rainstorm. Photo courtesy of Sam Rodgers.
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Editor’s note: The 9th Street Journal reached out to city officials about the sidewalk project on several occasions, requesting budget and timeline information and seeking responses to residents’ complaints about the project.
After the story’s publication, the Public Works Department shared additional information and comments. The story has been updated to reflect that new information. Below are additional comments from the department:
“Responding to safety concerns, the Public Works Dept. repaired sidewalk along W. Club Blvd. from Hillandale to Clarendon in 2024 under project number SW-94. These repairs cost $669,000. According to plans for the Water Management Utility Rehabilitation project, only single sidewalk panels will be impacted due to sewer lateral replacements. It was Public Works’ decision to proceed with repair of the safety issues within this section of W. Club knowing that there should be a minimum impact on the replaced sidewalk from the Water Management utility project.
Google Street view in years past shows clear evidence of ponding at these intersections. The sidewalk repair project did not start the ponding issues these areas were already experiencing. Years of asphalt overlays placed on Club Blvd and adjacent streets contributed to water ponding at the curb ramps and intersections for many years.
The Public Works Dept. is aware of this problem and is working on a temporary solution until the Utility Rehabilitation project is complete. Once the Utility Rehabilitation project is complete, Public Works plans to repave these streets and address the ponding issue at the ramps and intersections.”
Katelyn Cai
