This may come as a surprise to you, but according to a city survey of streets, about 83.2 percent of them are in “satisfactory” condition, according to Rudy Bush in the DMN. (Note my earlier post mistakenly implied the city had surveyed residents; instead, they surveyed the streets.)

The good news, Bush points out: In 1994-95, 62 percent of streets were “satisfactory.” The bad news: Satisfactory streets in recent years peaked at 86.7 percent in 2009 and seems to be headed downward, if my car’s struts and tires are to be believed.

They’re the components of the car that get an up-close-and-personal look at the potholes, cracks, creases, dips and bumps on many of our city streets now. In fact, our son and I just completed a 4,100-mile college-hunting trip through a bunch of midwestern and eastern states, and we rode on all kinds of highways, roads and streets, and without any proof to back this up other than the shuddering of our car, the streets around here seem to be worse even than those in New York City.

Why we were driving straight through the heart of Manhattan is a story for another day, but we both agreed that NYC’s streets have it all over the one in front of our house in terms of being well-maintained.

No worries, though — the city can afford to spend about $120 million to improve streets next year, which is pretty darn close to the $950 million the city knows it needs to spend to resolve street issues throughout Dallas. Our street problems should be over soon.