The condition of city streets is improving as more paving is done and the number of reported potholes has fallen sharply.

Meanwhile, the city’s 260 miles of alleys are on track to receive a facelift every two years and a significant expansion of work on sidewalks is to carve deeply into the nearly six-year backlog of requests for repairs and improvement.

Bobby Vincent, city director of Public Works, offered that positive assessment Monday in presenting to City Council the annual report on streets and sidewalks.

On streets, the city is still years away from having streets in good condition, but it is gaining on that goal, he told council.

When the current fiscal year ends June 30, Richmond will have invested about $20 million to resurface 302 lane miles, or 11.5 percent of the 2,626 lane miles in the city, Mr. Vincent reported.

He added that DPW also will have installed 800 wheelchair curb cuts and ramps to pedestrian crossings. He said resurfacing took place in 62 places across the nine council districts.

In the new fiscal year that begins July 1, his department will have $16.5 million to invest, he told the council. He said the department plans to resurface 230 more lane miles, or 8.7 percent of the city’s lane miles, and install another 600 curb cuts.

According to a chart he presented, the condition of the pavement on more than 50 percent of city streets remains in fair to poor condition. In fiscal 2018-19, only 35 percent of streets were rated in good or very condition. Two years later, after an investment of $20 million each year, his chart showed 47 percent of streets are rated good to very good.

If the level of investment continues, Mr. Vincent estimates that more than 50 percent of streets with pavement will be rated good to very good at the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year, and more than 80 percent of the pavement will be in good to fair condition by June 30, 2027.

He noted that Richmond’s street paving is benefiting from new funding from increased gas and sales taxes flowing through the Central Virginia Transportation Authority, along with funding from the state and from the city Department of Public Utilities, which pays to restore streets it digs up.

The increased paving has reduced potholes, Mr. Vincent said. He reported that the department has had to fill 2,864 potholes so far in 2021, a reduction of 68 percent from the 8,956 potholes that needed to be filled during the first five months last year.

Mr. Vincent also reported that Richmond is on track to grade and improve about half the alley mileage by June 30.

He also reported that DPW plans is now hiring 30 people to expand the number of sidewalk crews from two to eight and is budgeted to invest $2.4 million in sidewalk work in 2021-22 fiscal year.

He said the multiple projects should cut responses to requests for improvements to existing sidewalks to less than two years.