Did you feel it?

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor. Isn't this the kind of thing that happens in California? The quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake, just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, Iowa, 450 miles northwest of the epicenter, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage. Personally, I was sound asleep, and didn't feel a thing. This is the second earthquake that Charmaine and I have been in. On a trip to Napa Valley, CA in 1997, we were driving our rental car back to the resort after a day of wine tasting when a small quake struck the region. Didn't feel that one, either.

I'm guessing that driving down a sidestreet full of potholes in Milwaukee would provide more shaking than either of these quakes did. More than 50% of the pavement in the Milwaukee area was found to be in poor or mediocre condition, according to a report recently released by TRIP, a national transportation research group. This costs us about $447 a year in extra repairs, tire wear and shortened lifetime of automobiles.

Years of cutting budgets and delaying road work has left city streets particularly vulnerable to the attack of winter. The problem dates back to 1993, when former Mayor John O. Norquist's administration cut the paving budget for the city's neighborhood streets from $10 million a year to $5 million a year. The paving budget stayed at that level until Mayor Tom Barrett took office in 2004, meaning the city fell $55 million behind on street work, not counting inflation.

The result: By 2005, the city was taking an average of 163 years to repair or replace neighborhood streets that were designed to last only 45 to 60 years. Barrett has boosted the paving budget for neighborhood streets each year, rising to $6.5 million for 2008. By this year, the replacement cycle should be down to 92 years, with further improvements ahead.