Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle talked about plans to strengthen the city's economy and combat violence during his annual State Of The City address Thursday morning, but details on those will come later. He also spoke about the condition of our streets.

Lori Johnson of Omaha is enjoying the mild season. "Winter really hasn't been that bad, there are days you can go out there without your coat on." She assumed the road conditions would be much better this winter. “The roads are not too bad, but some of them still have some pretty killer potholes, especially out here up and down 144th."

The city says it has resurfacing projects planned for this year, but nothing like what it accomplished in 2011. Last year, more roads were resurfaced than in any other year in more than a decade.

The city was able to resurface 91-lane-miles of streets with a budget of $7.6 million. That would be the equivalent of starting at 10th and Dodge and driving all the way to 264th and Dodge. We would have traveled it nearly four-and-a-half times in a single lane.

Of course 2011's resurfacing was scattered throughout the city. The mayor talked about the blockbuster year of resurfacing, blaming it on short-term planning by past city leaders. "It put us at the brink of a city budget crisis and left us with a road system deteriorating from nearly 50 years of neglect.

City Council President Tom Mulligan said the issue was top of mind for him heading into 2012. "We've got approximately $7 million at a minimum budgeted for 2012 for street improvements, that's a big issue for me."

The money earmarked for resurfacing is only $2.7 million, about a third of last year. Johnson is glad at least more will be done to fix the remaining problem areas. "The roads, they really do need to be redone. Some of these one-lane traffic places you can go to two lanes and that will cut down a lot on the traffic."

Resurfacing won't begin again until temperatures are warmer, further into spring.