The Quality of Street Repairs

Recently I've noticed a difference in quality between St. Paul and Minneapolis street repairs. My route to work includes many man-hole covers* sunken below the surface of the street. I think they put a new road surface over an old one and left the man-hole covers as they were.

Regardless of how they got that way, I try to avoid riding through them. In St. Paul, they've been replacing them with street-level covers. After the repair, the new asphalt perfectly matches the level of the old asphalt. The new asphalt is smooth and even. It's really impressive. Except for the color difference of the fresh black to the old gray asphalt, there is no way to detect the difference. If I were blind, I could ride over one of the St. Paul covers and never know it. That reminds me of another subject, riding with your eyes closed. I'll save that for another time.

In Minneapolis, the street repairs are pretty messy. The edges of the new asphalt and the old are not even. The new asphalt is often unlevel, lumpy, and uneven. I've been riding my bike to work in the Twin Cities for 12 years and this is a standout difference between the two cities. Maybe some photos are in order showing the differences.

* Man-hole covers: I think they're called something else now, but I can't recall what that term is. Using the new term would distract readers just as I've done by calling attention to it. I lose either way. Let me know if you have the correct term.