 In 1880 only a quarter mile of Omaha 's estimated 118 miles ( 190 km ) of streets were paved . In 1883 Andrew <unk> , brother of newspaper owner Edward <unk> , became city engineer and began an ambitious project to modernize city streets . By 1886 the city had 44 miles ( 71 km ) of paved streets , including <unk> , Colorado sandstone , Sioux Falls granite and wooden blocks . 
