Sidewalk repairs long overdue in some Flint neighborhoods

Flint, MI— Flint resident Lisa Johnson has lived in the Brownell-Holmes neighborhood since 2003. While the sidewalk around her was never completely smooth, Johnson said she remembers when it was just a small bump in the ground.

Now, the roots of a tree planted between the sidewalk next to her home and the street have caused the sidewalk to crack completely off the ground, posing a major safety hazard.

“It didn’t start out like that,” Johnson said. “It grew.” 

Johnson tripped over the sidewalk recently while cutting her grass. She doesn’t allow her grandkids to ride their bikes on the sidewalk because she fears they’ll get hurt.

“My grandkids and other kids that come through here, they can’t ride a bike here,” said Johnson. “Look at that sidewalk. The tree roots are definitely causing the problem.”

The roots have grown into her yard and toward her house, prompting Johnson to call someone to check her sewer system, which she thinks is being damaged by the roots.

Also, Johnson and other family members have tried multiple times over the last 10 years to raise the issue with various city employees but to no avail. 

William Napier, also a Brownell-Holmes resident, has a completely broken and raised sidewalk in front of his home that he says isn’t walkable. 

In the four years he’s lived in his home, Napier said the sidewalk has made it difficult for him to carry out maintenance tasks such as cutting his grass and shoveling the sidewalk. 

Like Johnson, Napier’s grandchildren can’t play on the sidewalk and often play in the street, which can be dangerous. 

“It does impact people,” Napier said. “You find people walking in the streets instead of on the sidewalk.”

Nicole Whitehead, who lives on Fleming Road, said she fell on the sidewalk and scraped her elbow last week while walking to the store for bread.

Replacing the broken sidewalks would also make her life much easier, as she walks to stores daily. Often, Whitehead has to walk in the street because of all the broken sidewalks throughout her neighborhood, and she worries she may get hit by a passing car. 

Whitehead said she hasn’t attempted to contact anyone in Flint about the problem because she’s not hopeful anything will get done. She’s seen numerous improvements in the downtown area, but Whitehead said there’s been a lack of change in her neighborhood.

“Nobody cares,” says Whitehead. “It is what it is.”

That changed on Monday, April 8, 2024, when Flint City Council approved three separate resolutions to enter into contracts worth $3.225 million for tree removals and sidewalk replacements damaged by tree roots.

Those resolutions included entering into a $1.5 million contract with KMI Road Maintenance to replace sidewalks impacted by trees and contracts with Wolsey Tree Service and J & M Tree Service to remove trees, at $862,500 each.

According to the resolution language, the funding will be distributed equally throughout the city’s nine wards and focus on the worst sidewalks. Emphasis will be on “walkability” and where replacing sidewalks will have the “greatest impact.”

The decision comes after city-wide sidewalk assessments stemming from 2023 conducted by Spalding DeDecker. The company was hired under a $110,000 contract to evaluate “all sidewalks within wards 1 to 9” and share that data, including defect information, “location, pictures and quantities,” with the city of Flint for follow-up.

Flint will prioritize trees and sidewalks near schools, hospitals, and churches. Still, the location of the tree removals and sidewalk replacements has yet to be determined, as the city is currently assessing all sidewalks, according to Transportation Director Rodney McGaha.

During a Finance Committee meeting on April 3, 2024, McGaha told council that priority would be given to those areas impacted near schools, hospitals, and churches. 

“We’ll never have enough for (all of the) sidewalk repairs,” McGaha said. “That’s how bad our sidewalks are.” He said the issue is that trees were often planted before the sidewalks were poured or planted too close to the sidewalks. 

McGaha estimated it could take as much as $100 million to repair all of the damaged sidewalks throughout the city.