City officials announced an emergency resurfacing project on Tuesday to repave the roughest portions of 13 city-owned streets before year’s end.

Through a county contract, the city has hired Asphalt Pavement Solutions, of Delanco, to handle the repaving work. The city expects to spend $500,000 to finish each of the jobs by Dec. 31.

Interim Mayor Vic Carstarphen announced the repaving program at a press event on Thurman Street in the Liberty Park section. Part of Thurman Street is to be repaved between 9th and 10th streets.

The city’s engineer identified the most-potholed, rough and bumpy portions of the 13 streets from residents’ feedback and an informal survey, said Carstarphen, joined at Tuesday’s event by Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Councilmen Chris Collins and Angel Fuentes.

Carstarphen said 99% of the people he speaks with express concern about the terrible condition of many city streets, so he expects residents will welcome this resurfacing program.

Street repaving is the latest quality-of-life issue Carstarphen is addressing, in part, to boost his visibility as he sprints toward the Nov. 2 general election. He recently announced initiatives to fill potholes, remove abandoned cars, demolish blighted buildings, increase vaccination access and boost youth sports programs.

Each of the 13 streets targeted for work are in “emergency” condition, said Keith Walker, the city’s public works director.

Swift repaving jobs can only be accomplished on streets with underground infrastructure – like water and sewer mains or electric, gas and other utilities – known to be in good condition, said  Walker.

Otherwise, the DPW director said, there is a risk that newly resurfaced roads could be ripped to make repairs or line replacements, wasting time and money.

Turnaround time for repaving each segments is expected to be four days. Residents will be prohibited from parking on those streets from 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. while work is being done, Walker noted.

“It’s a long time coming. We need this,” said Richard Bookman, a 50-year city resident who stopped at the mayor’s press conference.

While parts of Thurman Street are in poor shape, Bookman said it was not particularly bad in  comparison to some of Camden’s really rough streets. “(Thurman Street) wasn’t great, but it wasn’t one of the worst,” he said.

Thurman Street didn’t start getting bad until last winter, said Latinya Ali, a who lives on the corner of Thurman and 9th streets with her potbelly pig Dexter.

Councilman Collins said 27th Street – a county-owned road that is not included in this emergency work – is definitely the worst road in the city and possibly the worst in the state.

Carstarphen has spoken about repaving 27th Street for months. That job would involve more underground infrastructure work and requires more collaboration with Camden County. The mayor hopes to take action soon on 27th Street.

The mayor said another batch of roads will be added to the emergency repaving program once the first 13 are complete. That will likely happen early next year, he said.

Here is a complete list of the roads that will be repaved before the end of the year:

North 6th Street (York to Erie)                                     
Boyd Street (Watson to Carmen)
Cedar Street (9th to 10th St.)                                          
Morse Street (Bank to Westminster)
Fern Street (9th to 10th)
Pelham Place (32nd to 34th)
Line Street (Newton Ave to 9th)                               
35th Street (Lemuel to Fairfax)
Lansdowne Avenue (4th to Broadway)                  
Cleveland Avenue (270 East of 29th to 30th)
Thurman Street (9th to 10th)                                   
Greenwood Avenue (Vesper to Euclid)
N. Merrimac Road (Constitution to Congress)