HAMMOND | The City Council on Monday adopted a resolution to create a citywide emergency paving program, adding $2 million to the $1 million already set aside for road repairs.

As passed 6-0, with 6th District Councilman Homero "Chico" Hinojosa and Councilwoman-at-large JoAnn Matonovich absent, the resolution indicates the emergency arose from the successive cycle of freeze and thaw last winter and spring.

Streets citywide sustained structural defects posing a hazard to residents, emergency responders and pedestrians. While the streets have been patched, the repairs are considered short-term.

Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. is expected to sign off on the project and enter into a cooperative agreement with the council to fund the program.

The paving program will be funded by the $1 million in casino money already designated for road repair this year and supplemented by $500,000 from McDermott's discretionary casino fund and $250,000 from each of the six district council members with access to gaming dollars.

The roadwork should start "hopefully soon," according to 2nd District Councilman Al Salinas, who sponsored the initiative.

Michael Jabo, division manager for the DLZ engineering firm, said street overlays come in various forms. "Typically you have an existing roadway and apply asphalt to resurface the top," he said. Alternatively an inch or inch-and-one-half is ground off the top and overlaid with new asphalt.

In the upcoming project, Salinas said 3 inches of existing asphalt will be removed and replaced with new asphalt.

Salinas, a foreman with the city's Streets Department, said the project will kick off where the streets are in the worst condition, likely the 1st District, and work its way down to where the damage is less serious, such as the 4th District.

Repairs to the 1st District are also the costliest at $839,264, followed by the 3rd at $787,065; the 5th at $547,725; the 6th at $293,751; the 4th at $274,987; and the 2nd at $267,516.