The intersection of Prospect and Grove streets, where preparations for resurfacing have made travel a little bumpy.

The city of Kewanee spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on fixing the streets.

But that’s only a small fraction of what it would take to make every street in the city smooth.

In his memo to the City Council in advance of this week’s council meeting, City Manager Gary Bradley wrote that work began a few weeks ago on preparing local streets for resurfacing.

“They are tentatively scheduled to complete the work in the latter half of next week, weather permitting,” Bradley’s report said.

But this year’s repairs cover only a few of the many blocks of streets that need to be fixed.

Bradley wrote that when it comes to a complete street fixup, “the cost for materials alone would be $7.8 million.”

And that’s not counting repairs that are needed to the water lines under those streets, making sidewalks at intersections comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other repairs.

For street repairs, Bradley wrote, “Our system has far more needs than revenue with which to address those needs.

“The cost of milling/grinding, adjusting manhole and storm inlet heights, improving intersections to conform with the ADA requirements, along with the use of pitch/primer to ensure that the asphalt surface adheres to the surface of the roadbed, and other ancillary costs would put the total well above $18 million,” Bradley wrote.

He added, “Making such improvements without making adjustments to the road profiles or subsurface infrastructure would result in conditions in 20 years or so being remarkably similar to what they are today.”

The state refunds to the city a portion of the taxes it charges on gasoline and diesel fuel sold in Kewanee. These Motor Fuel Taxes amount to several hundred thousand dollars each year, which are used for street projects.

The city also gets other help from state and federal governments. For example, federal funds were used in the resurfacing of East Street a few years ago. And the Illinois Department of Transportation is planning to carry out a long-overdue reconstruction of West Sixth Street from Lexington Avenue within a couple of years.