Street & Sidewalk Maintenance

Streets

Snowy Landscape with Cleared RoadThe City of New Brighton has 70 miles of municipal or local streets, 21 miles of county roads and 4 miles of state trunk highways.

The City uses the Metropolitan Council's hierarchical classification scheme that has four general classifications for roadways within the City: principal arterial, minor arterial, major collector, and local streets. Major streets are laid out in a gridiron pattern allowing traffic to move logically from local street to collector to minor arterial to principal arterial and back again. The City also has a skeletal sidewalk system that contains approximately 21 miles of sidewalks.

The following Transportation Objectives were developed for the City of New Brighton's transportation system under the City's comprehensive plan:

  1. To develop safe, efficient and convenient transportation systems for use by automobiles, mass transit, bicycles, and pedestrians.
  2. To develop transportation facilities in a manner that does not adversely impact adjacent land and deteriorate the quality of life in the community.
  3. New Brighton seeks to develop its transportation system consistent with the Metropolitan Council Transportation Plan Policy and to be compatible with adjacent communities, Ramsey County and the State of Minnesota.

New Brighton is a substantially built-out City so there are no plans to construct new roadways within the City. All of the planned street improvements are rehabilitation of existing facilities.

Sidewalks

The City of New Brighton has 24.2 miles of sidewalks located along roadways and 14.5 miles of bituminous paths in City parks and in Long Lake Regional Park.

There are sidewalks along nearly every major collector and arterial street in the City. Sidewalks are located along these heavily traveled roads for safety reasons and also because they connect neighborhoods to many different destination points throughout the City. Sidewalks are not needed on the local streets because of the lower volume and speed of vehicular traffic.

New Brighton sidewalks are maintained by the City Public Works Department. The City's policy is to clear all sidewalks of along roadways within 8 hours of a 2-inch or greater snowfall. Getting sidewalks cleared in school areas prior to the opening of school is a plowing priority. Placing trash or recycle bins clear of sidewalks makes plowing of these areas significantly more efficient for plow operators.

The sidewalk system is swept in the spring to remove road salt and sand that accumulates over the winter.

Sidewalks are inspected annually for "trippers" (sidewalk panels that push up by frost action), obstructions such as tree branches and other obstacles that might be hazardous. When any of these conditions are found or reported they are repaired, usually by a contractor.

More Information

  1. Snow Removal

A snow removal issue can be reported online.

The New Brighton Public Works Department plows approximately 70 miles of city streets, 121 cul-de-sacs and 21 miles of city sidewalks. Generally the snow plows are sent out when snow accumulates to 2 inches or more, which happens about 12 times per year on average. The average snow season in the Twin City area runs from Thanksgiving to March 15th with the average annual snowfall of 45 inches.

Plowing, Sanding & Salting

The city street system is divided into 6 maintenance districts for snow plowing. To remove the snow from streets, the City uses 5 truck-mounted plows with sanders and 1 motor grader. The trucks with sanders spread salt on hills and at intersections as they plow. The first truck completing its district is sent to salt the hills and intersections in the motor grader district.

A priority route system has been established and is plowed first. Priority routes are generally higher volume streets that allow residents and emergency vehicles faster and better access to all areas of New Brighton. The Ramsey County roads in New Brighton are all priority routes and the County usually has them opened for travel when the city priority streets are opened.

After the priority routes have been plowed and salted, the remainder of the streets are plowed. The order of plowing within the districts is rotated so the same streets are not always plowed first or last. Depending on the amount of snow, each district takes about 8 to 10 hours to complete.

Parking Lots, Etc.

A one-ton truck and a front-end loader with a plow are used to remove snow from the Public Safety Center and City Hall parking lots, alleys, lift stations and well houses. The first priority is the Public Safety Center and City Hall parking lots, followed by alleys. The front end loader and a large tractor plow the most difficult cul-de-sacs.

New Brighton City Code regarding No Parking After Snowfall states:

"Section 29-32 - No person shall park or leave standing any vehicle on any street or roadway after a snowfall of at least three inches. Parking may be resumed on the streets or roadways after the snow has been removed or plowed to the curb line. (Code 1966; Ord. Number 249, 2-11- 69; Ord. Number 535, 12-10-85; Code of 1988; Code of 2001)"

Section 29-20 and Section 29-21 of the City Code restrict daytime parking on streets to 6 hours between 5 am and 2 am, and nighttime parking to 30 minutes between 2 am and 5 am.

Cars that are parked in violation of the Ordinance are plowed in and can be issued a ticket.  After the snowfall is over and the streets are cleared, the cars that have been plowed in are usually gone and the remaining snow can be removed. Cars that are not removed within a reasonable period of time are towed by the Police Department.

Mailboxes & Yards

Properly installed mailboxes (per USPS standards) that are physically hit by our snow plows will be repaired by the city.  Boxes downed due to the force of the snow hitting them are the owner's responsibility. Temporary repairs are made to mailboxes that are physically hit by the plow to avoid an interruption in mail service. Permanent repairs are made in the spring when the ground is thawed.

When plowing snow, some plows do climb the curbs and disturb the yard, this is especially true of cul-de-sacs. If a resident's yard is damaged, the resident should call the Public Works office at 651-638-2111 and report it. In the spring, all yard damage will be repaired by the Public Works Department with black dirt and seed.

How to Install a Mailbox (USPS)

  1. Ice Control on City Streets
  1. Plowing City Sidewalks
  1. Street Sweeping
  1. Street Seal Coating
  1. Spring Load Restrictions
  1. Useful Links