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Alley potholes, woman wants concrete replaced
Milwaukee has more than 400 miles of alleys. Neighbors face an uphill battle advocating for their alley to be chosen for replacement.
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee has more than 400 miles of alleys. Only a small fraction get replaced in any given year. Neighbors face an uphill battle advocating for their alley to be chosen.
Water fills potholes in the alley behind South Honey Creek Drive in Milwaukee. The potholes give Shannon Bowman the sensation of off-roading in her own alley.
"If it rains, there’s water in there for days," said Bowman. "There’s loose rocks. You see trash."
The 1960s concrete in Bowman’s alley is crumbling and its potholes expanding. She estimates some of the potholes are three to four inches deep, with the biggest pothole about three feet by four feet.
"The whole thing just needs to be torn up and replaced," said Bowman.
Not only is Bowman shredding tires and rims, she fractured an ankle. When she met Contact 6 in November, she wore a boot on one foot.
"I took a step back and right behind me was a pothole," explained Bowman. "I basically fell right into the pothole."
Bowman’s alderman in District 13, Scott Spiker, told Contact 6, the alley "is terrible and only hasn’t been repaved thus far because there are others that are equally terrible."
The city of Milwaukee owns and maintains about 4,000 alleys. Its budget for alley reconstruction in 2024 is $850,000, which is the same amount as in 2023. About eight alleys might get replaced per year, according to the Department of Public Works (DPW), depending on size.
The city replaced seven alleys in 2022, when the budget was $600,000. As of November, it had replaced four alleys in 2023.
"Generally speaking, it seems that alleys tend to be at the low end of the priority list," said Bob Bauman, District 4 alderman.
Bauman says when it comes to surface infrastructure like streets, sidewalks and alleys, replacing streets simply outranks replacing alleys. Alleys are not viewed as public thoroughfares, but service drives for abutting properties.
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Back in 2013, the city’s budget for alley reconstruction was $2.5 million, according to Bauman’s office.
Bauman says another obstacle to more significant alley reconstruction, is that 50% of alley replacement costs are assessed to abutting homeowners. A DPW spokesperson says the other 50% comes from the City’s Capital Improvement Program funded by the wheel tax.
Bauman says homeowners do push-back against the assessments, which can range from $2,000 to $5,000.
"I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard homeowners come in and say, "yeah, the alley should be replaced. It really is in bad shape but I can’t afford $4,000. I’m on a fixed income." said Bauman.
Bauman doesn’t see the assessment rate changing, nor the city’s budget for alley reconstruction increasing.
"If we started getting all kinds of calls for a massive alley reconstruction program, then we’d look at that, but that hasn’t materialized," said Bauman.
Milwaukee has serviceable alleys up to 130 years old. Some alleys still have their original brick, said Bauman.
The Milwaukee Public Library tells Contact 6 that the city’s alleys were originally built to accommodate deliveries, stables, garbage cans, coal delivery and ash removal. Thire purpose was to hide less desirable functions from the public eye. After World War II, alley construction was replaced by residential driveways and parking lots.
One day after Contact 6 visited Bowman’s alley, the city sent asphalt trucks to patch up the potholes, again. Bowman knows it’s a short-term fix.
"Before winter they come, they dump some hot asphalt in there, roll over it, and that’s it," said Bowman. "Then, it just kind of crumbles away throughout the year."
Milwaukee’s operating and maintenance budget spends about $150,000 a year on pothole patching, according to DPW.
Alderman Spiker says he has "stressed to [DPW} how awful the portion of the alley near Shannon and her neighbors is."
Spike says he’s asked the alley behind South Honey Creek Drive, "be the nest one they enter into the design process-the last step before paving, should the neighbors support paying for that."
"Having to go through this frustration is ridiculous," said Bowman. "Someone is gonna get really hurt out here."
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DPW did not provide an on-camera interview for Contact 6’s report, but did respond to question by email. It says that Bowman’s alley, "is on the list for future repaving, but would need to be prioritized over other locations."
Alderman Bauman says alley reconstruction does include permeable pavement, when possible. In those cases where "green infrastructure" is used, the City gets a grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) which reduces overall costs for homeowners and the City. The "green" pavement and new underground sewers help to alleviate demand on the City’s stormwater system.