The City of Saint Paul has stated that they are investing $2.55 million this summer to improve street pavement conditions across the entire city.
The funds have reportedly helped put all available Public Works Street Maintenance staff and resources toward repairing and pothole patching all streets that were damaged by winter weather conditions. Public Works is in the process of “route patching” the entire city, which means they will review and patch all streets, and then go back and skim pave streets in areas that need more extensive work. Crews are expected to patch or skim pave all 530 miles of residential streets and more than 2,000 alleys throughout Saint Paul this summer and into the fall.
“Route patching is a more efficient, systematic approach to patching all city streets compared to responding to individual patching requests,” said city officials in a released statement.
Crews are currently pothole patching in designated areas and addressing each street when needed before moving to the next street and neighborhood area. City crews will review every street in Saint Paul throughout the summer.
“The record-setting winter last year did extensive damage to our streets,” said Mayor Melvin Carter. “Repairing our streets remains our priority. Our Public Works crews continue to do everything they can to improve the safety of our streets and help us reach our goal of patching every street in Saint Paul this year.”
On average a Saint Paul Public Works crew will hand shovel about 15-20 tons of asphalt per day for patching city streets.
Saint Paul Public Works does pothole patches year-round; however, route patching the entire city is a measure that requires additional dedication of staffing and resources to prepare the city’s streets for next winter.
“The important work done by our street maintenance team cannot be praised enough,” said Sean Kershaw, Director of Saint Paul Public Works. “It is a tough job carried out in often tougher conditions. These men and women know the unique character of what makes each street different from one another and they take great pride to take care of them and keep them safe and usable for all.”
