The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (Park Board) currently owns approximately 55 miles of parkways throughout Minneapolis. This system of parkways allows people to experience the City’s parks, lakes, gardens, and diverse neighborhoods. In order to maintain and improve the condition of parkway streets, Minneapolis Public Works assists with the maintenance of parkways by funding pavement improvements as a part of the Parkway Paving Program (PV001) with additional supplemental funding provided by the Park Board when available. The purpose of the Parkway Paving Program is to provide a smooth driving surface, extend the life of the pavement, and reduce annual maintenance expenditures on parkways by resurfacing and sealcoating the asphalt driving surface.
The resurfacing work removes the top layer of asphalt driving surface on a street and puts on a new layer of asphalt. Sealcoating adds the parkway’s signature red color and extends the life of the pavement by sealing cracks, preventing pavement from drying and cracking, and establishing a barrier to prevent water infiltration. The sealcoating work includes placing liquid asphalt over the pavement, followed by spreading stone chips over the liquid asphalt. The pavement surface is then rolled with specialized compaction equipment to embed the chips into the applied liquid asphalt. In approximately one week, the pavement is swept with a street sweeper to pick up excess seal coat chips.
To learn more about resurfacing, please visit the frequently asked questions section of the City's asphalt resurfacing webpage. To learn more about seal coating, please visit the City's sealcoating webpage.
Minneapolis Public Works and the Park Board collaborate annually to establish the schedule of paving improvements for the Parkway Paving Program (PV001). Programming and scheduling of improvements is guided by City’s 20 Year Street Funding Plan. This plan documents the process and criteria for how projects are prioritized for inclusion in the annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Projects are evaluated by their physical condition, as well as specific equity criteria that documents community demographics, how many people use the street, and the mode by which people travel.
To learn more about the Neighborhood Park and Street Infrastructure ordinance and the City’s 20 Year Street Funding Plan, please visit the City's webpage.
Per the City’s Uniform Assessment Policy, adjacent property owners benefitting from the paving improvements will be assessed for the work associated with the parkway paving program. Assessments contribute to a portion of the project cost, while the remaining costs are covered by City funds.
To learn more about assessments, please visit the frequently asked questions section of the City’s Special Assessments page.