Nicollet Avenue Reconstruction Project Nears Completion

There are still a few items that need to be taken care of as work on the Nicollet Avenue Reconstruction project nears completion.

Here’s an update at where the city of Minneapolis is at with the project:

Roadway striping will be finished this week, but the Minneapolis Traffic department still has work to do on the signal at 38th St and the street lighting.

Minneapolis Park Board expects to begin planting trees—Maple, Hackberry, White Oak, Elm, and Linden—along Nicollet.

Information on that schedule will be shared as it’s available.  The city also asks residents to water the new boulevard trees and maintain the sod.

Here are a couple of suggestions for sod maintenance:

Sufficient and timely watering is critical to new sod until the root system is fully established to withstand drought and still come back. This can take a full year at times. The areas with full sun may require more water than shaded areas. It’s important to not let the new sod dry out.

Proper mowing: A basic rule is to never remove more than 1/3 of the grass height during a single mowing. Example: Cut grass when it’s 4” high and set the cutting height to 3”. Allowing grass to grow to a height of 6” or more and cutting it very short can injure new sod to the extent it may die. This is especially harmful when watering is insufficient.