St. Paul's 1-cent sales tax funding $750 million in road construction
ST. PAUL, Minn. — It's mid-August, but construction season is about to ramp up in the capital city.
Nearly 45 miles of street-improvement projects will soon get underway in St. Paul. It's all part of the city's "Common Cent" strategy.
As city crews work on St. Paul's Hamline Avenue, few are more excited than Sharon Hemmons.
"Over, overdue," Hemmons said. "Years, years."
Hemmons said in this city, road problems are "everywhere you go."
But now, there's been a radical change.
"Less than one year, less than one year, after passage, we have over 100 Common Cent projects in every corner of this city," Mayor Melvin Carter said.
Voters approved a 1-cent increase to local sales tax to pay for improvements to city parks, roads and more.
As early as the end of the month, the big work will start at Grand and Fairview avenues. It's part of a number of projects all funded by St. Paul's 1-cent sales tax. The public works director says they're big-time projects he's big-time excited for.
"Frankly, I sort of get chills talking about it," Sean Kershaw said.
Kershaw said by the numbers, it's 40 miles of road reconstructed over 15 years to the tune of $750 million.
"It feels great as staff to say that we're not just planning projects or thinking about projects or hoping we could do projects, but we get to deliver these projects," he said.
While the bulk of the work won't start until next year, at least one person is already counting the days.
"It's about time for them to do something to St. Paul," Hemmons said. "I think it's a good thing. It's about time. It's due time. It's overdue time."
The Grand Avenue project is more than just road repair. The city said improvements will also help businesses, walkers and bikers.