New Orleans city streets may undergo their biggest facelift in decades in the coming year, as the city's director of Public Works says an infusion of federal dollars are about to make a big dent in fixing damaged streets.

For Lucille Hills, driving around New Orleans is not only an exercise in frustration, but it has also turned out to be a costly endeavor.

"The roads are very bad," she said.  "I went down in a hole back on Louisa Street. That's where I hit my car," and ended up damaging her transmission to the tune of more than a $1,000 dollars.

"I would like to see them fix not just some streets -- all streets," she said.

For drivers on some of the city's worst streets, relief may finally be in sight as the incoming pace of federal dollars speed up the needed road repairs.

"That means, for the next year or so, you're going to see all this activity that's really going to look like what the city should be doing every year," said Robert Mendoza, director of Public Works.

Mendoza says the federal Submerged Roads Program, which kicked off this past summer, will be kicking into high gear in 2009.  The first streets to see all the activity will be those most damaged during Katrina -- especially in areas like the Lower 9th Ward, Lakeview and New Orleans East.

Welcome news to some residents who say progress on the fixing streets has been slow.

"They're antiquated. They need to be resurfaced, torn up and resurfaced. We have a lot of pot holes in this area," said Katherine Prevost, a 9th Ward resident.

Despite the federal money, the Public Works Department is requesting more than $40 million from the City Council to fix all the other streets not covered by FEMA money or grants.

"We know that number need to be close to $40 million every year. Not just one time -- every single year," said Mendoza.

It's a whopping number -- $40 million -- especially considering that last year the city's street maintenance budget totaled around $3 million.

Mendoza says he doesn't expect the department will get their total budget request, but he says, after decades of neglect, it will take a lot more money from the city to bring the streets up to par.

"Despite all the tough times, despite the tight budgets and everything else, if the streets are something we're going to invest in, we're going to have to really step out of our comfort zone and find some real operating monies to do these projects," said Mendoza.