City Council Eyes Federal Funding For Road Repairs

It's no secret many roads across New Bedford are in rough shape. The City Council is attempting to get federal funding in order to make some much needed repairs on the worst roads in the city.

During Thursday night's meeting, Ward Five Councilor Kerry Winterson filed a motion to send a letter to state legislators requesting funding while Councilor at Large Linda Morad filed a related motion requesting $6 million for the city to be distributed among the six wards.

She says has worked before under the Kalisz administration and should be requested more often to combat the city's deteriorating roads.

"It was divided $1million in each ward and the ward councilor worked with DPI to determin what streets in each ward needed to be done, did an estimation what they would cost and the ward councilors made the determination of how that money was going to be spent. And it worked," Morad said.

Councilors acknowledged that the Department of Public Infrastructure has done a fine job repairing pot holes and cracks, but the streets need a full overhaul to be safe again.

"DPI has been very proactive in regards to filling any areas that we have, maybe patching an area, but we need to have allocated funds from the federal government as well as the state," Winterson said.