Rough and uneven Wirth Parkway in Minneapolis to get new pavement

With lots of bumps, cracks and uneven pavement making for a rough ride, sections of Theodore Wirth Parkway on Minneapolis' western border with Golden Valley are in dire need of attention.

Starting Monday, the road will get it.

The Minneapolis Public Works Department will begin a two-year repaving project that should give motorists a much smoother ride.

Crews will start by tackling the segment between N. 29th Avenue and Golden Valley Road. Later this summer, they will repave the parkway between Plymouth Avenue and the railroad bridge just south of the Theodore Wirth Golf Course parking lots.

Next summer, crews will repave the sections between Golden Valley Road and Plymouth Avenue and from the railroad bridge south to Hwy. 55.

Project Manager Daniel Elias said he is unsure when the parkway was last repaved, but it's likely been more than 50 years since any major work was done.

"It is safe to say that the Theodore Wirth Parkway pavement is in extremely poor condition and is long overdue for this resurfacing," he said.

The city's Parkway Paving Program will pay for the $750,000 job, which also includes seal coating E. Bde Maka Ska Parkway between Lake and 36th streets, which was repaved last summer.

David Engfer recently went to the deputy registrar's office in Woodbury for duplicate license tabs and paid $12.50 to get them.

He'd already paid the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services (DVS) when he mailed in his tab renewal request in May. But his tabs never came.

"Why should I have to pay for duplicates for something I never received from the State of Minnesota?" he asked in an e-mail. "How many other people in Minnesota are in the same position?"

Minnesotans are not required to pay for duplicate tabs if they already paid for and are waiting for tabs to arrive in the mail, said DVS spokeswoman Megan Leonard.

Engfer said his check was cashed May 12, but in late June he went to the deputy registrar's office because his tabs hadn't arrived. The clerk told him she could see that he had paid for his tabs.

Leonard said DVS told deputy registrars to issue motorists a 60-day permit at no cost to place in their vehicle's back window until their tabs arrived. In Engfer's case, the registrar issued replacement stickers and charged $1.50 for the tabs and an $11 filing fee.

Deputy registrars are independently owned and keep the filing fee, and send the $1.50 tab fee to the state. Registrars have the option of waiving the filing fee for duplicate tabs, Leonard said.

DVS doesn't track how many customers paid for duplicate tabs because their tabs didn't come in the mail. Minnesotans who mailed in tab renewals and don't have them after two weeks should use the Report Registration Tabs Not Received form to notify DVS. They will get a verification letter via e-mail to use as proof of registration renewal until tabs arrive.