The surest signs that it’s spring in Minneapolis isn’t blooming flowers or chirping birds: it’s the open maws of potholes threatening to flatten car tires (or worse!) and swallow bicyclists whole.
So who’s supposed to fix this mess? In Minneapolis, that depends. The city’s public works department patches potholes on the vast majority of streets in the city. But there are also a number of county roads in Minneapolis which are repaired by Hennepin County crews. (Some portions of county roads are nevertheless repaired by city crews.) On interstates and other state highways, MnDOT takes charge of repairs. Still other roads are maintained by private entities, such as roads on the University of Minnesota campus.
The map below, based on data from Minneapolis Public Works, shows which agency is responsible for fixing potholes in given segments of Minneapolis roads. A couple important notes: these are only the agencies tasked with fixing potholes on the roads — not who owns the road or who’s responsible for its overall condition. This data was last updated in February, 2018, so some pothole responsibilities may have been adjusted since then.
Regardless of which government is responsible for fixing a pothole, Minneapolis wants residents to call 311 to report all potholes in the city — operators there can refer it to the correct agency. The city, county and state also have pothole reporting websites:
