Expect smoother driving in north, southwest and south Minneapolis, after the Minneapolis City Council chose which city streets will get a new coat of asphalt and stripes in 2018.
Parts of the Jordan and Willard-Hay neighborhoods in north Minneapolis, the Armatage, Whittier and Lyndale neighborhoods in southwest and the Minnehaha neighborhood west of Minnehaha Falls will get their streets resurfaced after the Transportation and Public Works Committee approved spending $8.4 million. The council also set public hearings for the projects, which will be assessed to property owners.
The map of streets slated for a makeover — about 33 miles altogether — also includes sections of Plymouth, Emerson, Irving and Lyndale Avenues North, 5th Street NE., a handful of streets near the river just south of Lowry Avenue NE. and a stretch of 24th Street S. in Whittier.
"It's winter now, but spring's around the corner, and spring means road work," said Council Member Kevin Reich, chairman of the Transportation and Public Works Committee.
"We're covering a lot of ground. Instead of doing a few streets in the community, we're doing it in sections, which has some advantages."
Minneapolis is spending $20 million per year over the next 20 years on street maintenance, resurfacing, concrete rehabilitation and reconstruction, thanks to a deal reached in 2016. Reich said concrete rehabilitation and reconstruction projects are already underway in northeast Minneapolis, which is why fewer of the resurfacing projects are there.
Lots on streets slated for resurfacing will be assessed at a rate of $0.65 per square foot for nonresidential property and $0.22 per square foot for residential property. Those rates are unchanged from 2017, and for a home on a 5,000-square-foot lot, the cost will be $1,100.
Corner lots are generally cut in half diagonally for the purpose of assessments, and the property owner is assessed only for the half of the lot that abuts a street slated for resurfacing.
