Just in time for winter, St. Paul city officials have agreed on a plan to strip and repave 11 of Mayor Chris Coleman's "Terrible 20" arterial streets in critical need of repair.

On Wednesday, the City Council approved Coleman's proposal to spend $2.5 million this summer to improve the roads, which include some of the city's most highly-traveled – Cretin, Fairview, Grand and Hamline avenues, among others.

The work should be done by November.

Coleman thanked the council. "We do not want to repeat the winter and spring we had this past year," he said, in a statement released Wednesday. "No one wants another polar vortex and everyone wants the roads to be better in St. Paul."

The plan will use $1 million transferred from closed-out projects and areas such as street sweeping, along with $1.5 million already authorized for the work.

It wasn't the council's first choice on how to address growing problems with the washboard-like streets, which many people have been blaming for flat tires and out-of-whack suspensions.

Last month, six council members united around a plan to spend $22 million in bonding proceeds to start rebuilding the streets, rather than simply repairing them. The streets required more than just a short-term fix, they said.

But Coleman maintains that reconstructing all arterial streets will cost about $20 million a year for the next 10 years. His plan to spend $2.5 million now on repairs will buy the city some time until a long-term solution can be found – something he plans to offer in next month's budget address.

That sounds good to Council President Kathy Lantry. "We believe there needs to be a large infusion of money into rebuilding our roads in the future and we look forward to working with the mayor to identify a plan we can all get behind," she said.

The streets chosen for repairs this year, based on condition and traffic volume:

  • Cretin Avenue (from Interstate 94 to Marshall Avenue, and Summit Avenue to Ford Parkway)
  • Eustis Street (from the Hwy. 280 off-ramp to the I-94 on-ramp)
  • 11th Street (from St. Peter to Jackson streets)
  • Fairview Avenue (from Shields to Summit avenues)
  • Grand Avenue (from Interstate 35E to W. 7th Street)
  • Hamline Avenue (from University to Selby avenues, Portland to Grand avenues, and St. Clair to Randolph avenues)
  • Johnson Parkway (from Minnehaha Street to I-94)
  • Lafayette Road (from E. 7th to Grove streets)
  • Rice/W. 12th Street (from University Avenue to Wabasha/St. Peter streets)
  • Wabasha Street (from 6th to 7th streets)
  • Wheelock Parkway (from Edgerton to Arcade streets)