PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Broken sidewalks may not be top of mind, but they can be dangerous and create mobility concerns for people with disabilities.
The push to fix broken sidewalks is something ABC Action News has reported on for years as part of Driving Tampa Bay Forward. Pinellas County leaders decided they wanted to do something about the backlog of repair requests on their hands.
In 24 months, they made 587 sidewalk repairs.
"We did it in 22 months, two months ahead of schedule, and we ended up closing out a total of 1,200 service requests," said David Deranzio, the section manager for roadway and bridge for Pinellas County.
Close to double the amount in less time. Deranzio said many had been sitting in the backlog for too long.
"It's a great sense of relief, not having it anymore. Absolutely," he said with a smile.
There are several different methods used to fix sidewalks, according to Deranzio.
"Our guideline is if it's below a half an inch, typically we can grind it, and we can grind a little more than that," he said. "Sometimes, it depends on what the repair is too, because if it's a tree root, well, if we grind it, we know we're going to be back in three months because it's going to continue to move. So, we take it out, trim the tree root and put it back in."
He said sidewalks are an important asset to the transportation network because they connect schools, restaurants, bus stops, hospitals, stores and more together. After COVID, more people have become health conscious and are getting out and using the sidewalks even more for exercise.
"Sidewalks can be damaged for a number of reasons, tree roots, heat expansion, and a lot of times homeowners aren't always aware that sidewalks really aren't meant to be driven across," he said. "If they're remodeling their house or they have the pool person coming by or trimming trees, sometimes they will drive on the sidewalk and crack it and damage it."
But he said public sidewalks within Pinellas County's jurisdiction are the county's responsibility, which is why it took this on as a priority even though the post-COVID environment has been tough.
"It was very difficult for us to scale up for the two additional crews that we got. It was difficult to find people for those positions and it's still difficult," Deranzio said. "But, it's also difficult from a contractor side to hire subs and get people in. That's why we're so pleased to be able to do this against these economic conditions and we still managed to get it all done."
You can report a damaged or broken sidewalk through the County's SeeClickFix app or by calling 727-464-8900. The county will send someone out to inspect the area and put in a service request for the repair.
