Frustrated with Detroit sidewalks? You’re not alone

Detroiter Syri Simpson walks around the city a lot. Unfortunately she has also fallen a lot: on Clairmount Street between Woodward and Second avenues. On Seward Street, just before the John C. Lodge Freeway. Even downtown on Lafayette Boulevard, right where it crosses the Lodge Freeway.

Simpson is 70 years old and has spent the last two years walking with a cane or walker after a foot surgery. The sidewalks in and around her Piety Hill neighborhood are often uneven, unpaved or just not there. She said she’s frustrated that city repairs are inconsistent and put her safety and other pedestrians at risk .

Mayor Mike Duggan said during his State of the City address last week that the city repaired 400,000 broken sidewalk slabs in the past six years. That’s more than 500 miles of new sidewalks.

Plenty of Detroiters need to navigate through sidewalks that have been dug up, poorly fixed with loose asphalt, blocked by construction barriers or overtaken by grass.

“They’re being pennywise and pound foolish, in my opinion,” Simpson said. “They play hopscotch with (repairs) and then have to come back later.”

Got a broken up sidewalk photo that’s getting you down? Want to rave or rant about walking and safety in the city? Tell us all about it: samya@outliermedia.org .

The city has more than 3 million sidewalk slabs — also known as “sidewalk flags” — on residential streets. About 15% of these needed to be replaced last year. But the process for getting sidewalks repaired and the fact that there isn’t one entity responsible for fixing them can leave residents frustrated.

“You’re more or less forced to go on the road,” said Jacob Graham, who lives in the Islandview neighborhood. “There are sidewalks within 100 feet of parks, (recreation) centers and schools that are completely unusable to someone with any kind of mobility device — or even to someone without a mobility device.”

Property owners are responsible for sidewalks adjacent to their properties, but DTE Energy, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, Department of Public Works (DPW) and private construction companies — for a variety of reasons — dig up sidewalks and then are responsible for fixing them. Learn how to get your sidewalk fixed in this guide .

DPW received funding in March last year to fix 70,000 pieces of broken sidewalk slab, an amount the city says is equivalent to 80 miles, but just about 20% of residential sidewalks that need repair. DPW spokesperson Georgette Johnson said almost all those repairs are already done. During the 2024-25 fiscal year budget hearings , DPW said it plans to replace 40,000 more pieces of damaged sidewalks throughout neighborhoods this coming year and is prioritizing repairing sidewalk problems reported by residents.

In neighborhoods around the city, residents are also dealing with missing sidewalks because of utility repairs. DTE has been making improvements to its gas system , upgrading pipes and fulfilling a Michigan Public Service Commission requirement to move meters outdoors. In order to reach gas lines, DTE has torn up parts of lawns, driveways and yes, sidewalks.

Alice Bagley lives in the Piety Hill neighborhood. She said she had her gas lines replaced by DTE last summer and was happy to see sidewalks repaired in a couple of weeks.

But Bagley said it was a different story when she traveled east of Woodward. She said cold patch, a mixture of asphalt and oils that resist freezing, was laid down in June. The lumpy, uneven patch was there for at least five months, she said.

“Walking on it is really difficult. (It) feels unsafe,” Bagley said. “So, I can’t imagine someone who’s trying to walk with a cane, or something like that, trying to get around.”

In the warmer months of May through October, DTE said sidewalks should be fixed within 30 days of completing upgrades . Between November and April, the company said it fills sidewalk holes with cold patch until it’s warm enough to complete repairs.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to shovel snow off cold patch, but it’s not really possible,” Graham said.

A DTE spokesperson told Outlier in an email the company uses cold patch to be able to repair sidewalks year-round.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is responsible for all repairs needed for the water and sewer system, which require breaking sidewalks and curbs to fix or replace pipes. Spokesperson Bryan Peckinpaugh said the water department also temporarily uses cold patch in the cold months to restore sidewalks after these repairs.

The department received high praise from a resident on Fullerton Street after it finished pipe replacements in February.

Ethel Thomas often visits her daughter Jimalatice Thomas-Gilbert in her house on Fullerton. When the city’s Water and Sewerage Department replaced the house’s underground pipes, the department kept them informed on what was happening.

She said the workers would come in the morning, give enough notice before shutting off the water and clean up after they were finished. The department hadn’t restored the sidewalk in front of the house owned by Thomas’s daughter at the time of reporting.

“They were really professional about it,” Thomas said. “I liked the fact that they told what they were doing at each stage. It makes a difference.”

Lamiyah Wordlaw was much less pleased with the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s maintenance of the sidewalks which are in disrepair near her house.

“I mean, it’s bad,” she said. “It’s not safe either.”

Wordlaw lives in the Islandview neighborhood near a stretch of vacant land bank property where the sidewalk is being overtaken by grass. “You barely want to walk on it, so you have to walk in the street.”

“Some of the worst sidewalks are in front of land bank properties,” Graham added.

Outlier Media asked the land bank about sidewalk maintenance in front of its properties. The authority did not directly respond to the question and, instead, said residents should contact DPW for all sidewalk requests and inquiries.

“I would love for the city to just repair all the sidewalks,” Graham said. “(We’d) really appreciate it if part of the property taxes we pay went toward keeping the sidewalks in good order the same way they repaved the streets.”

“I just want the sidewalks to be cared for better,” Bagley added. “I’m not optimistic enough to think they would ever be as high a priority as the streets. But I feel like there needs to be a recognition that this is essential infrastructure. This is the way people are able to navigate the city safely.”

Correction: This article has been changed since publication. In an earlier version the caption for the main image identified the sidewalk as being on Mack and East Outer Drive. It is actually on Mack near East Grand Boulevard. An Outlier editor has a longstanding issue where she confuses the two. We regret the error.

Frustrated with Detroit sidewalks? You’re not alone · Outlier Media