Street work slows in St. Paul

200 miles need to be redone, work slated for 2025-2051

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In 1986, Ronald Reagan was president. Six astronauts and teacher Christa McAuliffe were killed when the Challenger space shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds after launch. Halley’s Comet visited the solar system for the second time during the 20th century. Walt Disney Pictures released the movie “The Great Mouse Detective.” And the St. Paul City Council approved a $300 million plan to separate storm and septic sewers, and rebuild city streets.
That program wrapped up in 1995, and was followed by a second, decade-long effort to rebuild the remaining 200 miles of the city’s residential streets. But without outside funding, it may be 2051 before all streets are completed.
The current schedule has one project in 2025, and then a slot for 2026-2051.
Council members discussed the ongoing street project funding issues in November. They’ll approve the city’s five-year streets plan in December as part of the 2022 budget.
One frustration for council members is that in 2022-2024, no neighborhood street reconstruction projects are planned. Available dollars haven’t kept up with need in the St. Paul Streets program, especially since arterial street reconstruction was added.
Council President Amy Brendmoen said that by the time all residential street areas are completed, the city will have to go back and work on the original project areas. She described a project area in her Fifth Ward which is finally slated to start in 2025-2026. Old streets are bowed and in places lack curbs, gutters, sidewalks, lighting and trees.
“We’re not getting this done and $12.5 million a year (for St. Paul Streets) doesn’t get us very far,” said Brendmoen.
City engineer Paul Kurtz agreed, saying that while the city is able to carry over $1.3 million from 2019 to 2021, that is not enough to address the need.
The Monitor area project, bounded by Lake Como, Arlington Avenue, Dale Street and Maryland Avenue, is slated for 2025-2026. It’s the third phase of Wheelock-Grotto work. But other areas, including Pascal-Como, Raymond-Territorial, Thomas-Aldine, Seminary-Chatsworth, Blair-Chatsworth and a big area bounded by Hamline, University and Western avenues and Interstate 94, are in the 2026-2051 time frame.
In some places, the city tears out and rebuilds old, paved streets. In some places the city is replacing oiled streets. Oiled streets appear to be paved but in reality are streets where decades of oil and fine pea gravel have been layered to form a surface for travel. The best clue to see if a street is an oiled street is the lack of curbs and gutters.

Wisconsin sued Minneasota
because of river pollution
St. Paul Streets is the replacement for what was originally the Residential Streets Vitality Program or RSVP. RSVP began in 1995 after the city finished its decade-long sewer separation and street reconstruction work.
Sewer separation came about because the state of Wisconsin took Minnesota to court over river pollution. In some parts of St. Paul, Minneapolis and South St. Paul, combined storm and septic sewer led to raw sewage flowing into the Mississippi River.
Not all projects went smoothly. Work along a stretch of University Avenue in 1994 went on so late in the fall that paving couldn’t be completed until 1995. That same year, delays in downtown work frustrated business owners, to the point that the owner of the On the Way Café was arrested for losing her temper and throwing muffins at workers.
The last piece of sewer pipe was laid in a ceremony in a Highland Park street that year. But the city still had 200 miles of residential streets in need of work.

Another 25 years to complete street work
When RSVP began, 88 neighborhood project areas were waiting for new streets, curb and gutter, sidewalks, street lighting and boulevard trees. Neighborhoods were allowed to opt out but that isn’t permitted any more. Opting out simply moves a project to the end of the list.
Sixty-eight projects were completed between 1995-2020, said Kurtz. Without an infusion of dollars, Public Works estimates it will take another 25 years to complete the last 20 projects.
When RSVP began, the city was able to do three and even four project areas in a single construction season. But costs have risen much faster than available city funding. Some projects are extended over two or more years, and broken into segments.
Another wrinkle is that in 2014 arterial streets were added to St. Paul Streets. That was done after then-Mayor Chris Coleman released a list of the “terrible 20” worst streets in need of repair.
Kurtz said that St. Paul Streets projects are chosen due to condition. Streets are regularly evaluated to see if they need to move up or down on the schedule.
One way the city could add to the life of residential streets is to do mill and overlay work, scraping off the top street layer, making repairs and then putting down a fresh coat of bituminous material, but that isn’t something the city currently budgets for.

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