Minnesota Streetscape Improvements Project

CONSTRUCTION ON THE MINNESOTA GROVE STARTING THIS WEEK.

Through the rest of this week, our construction crews will be preparing to start work within the Minnesota Grove. This preparatory work includes installing protective fencing around certain existing trees and plants, marking and planning out areas to be demolished and re-built, and performing pre-construction site walks with project managers and community stakeholders. Once this has all taken place, demo work will begin, first at the plaza at the southeast corner of 24th and Minnesota Streets. At this area, we will be re-grading the ground, removing existing gravel and replacing it with new pavers, removing and replacing existing stairs, benches and retaining walls, reconstructing adjacent portions of the sidewalk, and connecting the area to the grove's main irrigation system. We expect this work to take between 6 and 8 weeks to complete.We may begin work in other areas of the grove during this period as well, but additional notice will be given before any work begins.

Project Description

The Minnesota Street Grove is a lush and enchanting block-long park located in the heart of the Dogpatch neighborhood. Providing a serene walking path and habitat for a variety of animals, this park has become a beloved part of the community. In fact, it was first built by a dedicated group of Dogpatch and Potrero Hill residents in 2008, and has largely maintained by community members ever since. With the Minnesota Streetscape project, San Francisco Public Works is excited to collaborate with the communities that maintain and enjoy this beautiful green space to make it more usable, sustainable and accessible than ever before. 

San Francisco Public Works has hired Ronan Construction, Inc to perform a variety of roadway, electrical, drainage and landscape improvements both on Minnesota Street between 23rd and 25th Streets as well as on 23rd Street between Minnesota and Tennessee Streets.  

Within the Minnesota Street Grove specifically, we will be improving drainage, reinforcing a portion of its retaining wall, constructing new pathways with both decomposed granite and landscape concrete, designing and installing a new irrigation system, installing new custom-built benches and planting a variety of new plants. The goal of this work is to make this special community space even safer, more accessible and more sustainable than ever before. The improvements we will be making to the drainage and irrigation systems will also make future maintenance of the space less labor intensive and less impactful to surrounding areas. Please note that pedestrian access to the grove will be limited at times during construction, and there will be brief periods of time with no pedestrian access to the interior walkway. We will provide additional notice to the public before these periods of limited or no access begin. 

We will also be making renovations to the areas surrounding the grove. Minnesota Street will be fully repaved from 23rd Street to 25th Street, and a portion of the block between 23rd and 24th street will receive repairs to the concrete street base as well. We’ll be constructing four new ADA-compliant curb ramps at the 23rd and Minnesota intersection, while also extending the curb at the southeast corner of this intersection to decrease the crossing distance for pedestrians. We’ll be doing similar work at the 25th and Minnesota intersection, where we’ll be constructing three new curb ramps and a larger curb area at the northeast corner. To round out the accessibility improvements of this project, we’ll be reconstructing portions of the sidewalk around these new curb ramps. 

Construction Updates:

7/29/24: CONSTRUCTION ON THE MINNESOTA GROVE STARTING THIS WEEK.

Through the rest of this week, our construction crews will be preparing to start work within the Minnesota Grove. This preparatory work includes installing protective fencing around certain existing trees and plants, marking and planning out areas to be demolished and re-built, and performing pre-construction site walks with project managers and community stakeholders. Once this has all taken place, demo work will begin, first at the plaza at the southeast corner of 24th and Minnesota Streets. At this area, we will be re-grading the ground, removing existing gravel and replacing it with new pavers, removing and replacing existing stairs, benches and retaining walls, reconstructing adjacent portions of the sidewalk, and connecting the area to the grove's main irrigation system. We expect this work to take between 6 and 8 weeks to complete.We may begin work in other areas of the grove during this period as well, but additional notice will be given before any work begins.

7/19/24: Starting on Monday, July 22nd, we will be constructing a new concrete sidewalk, curb and gutter area, and curb ramps on the 1200 block of Minnesota Street, between 23rd Street and 24th.We will start by demolishing existing asphalt and re-grading the ground area. Once this is done, we will construct new curb ramps, sidewalk, curb and gutter at the southeast corner of the 23rd and Minnesota intersection. In addition, we will be constructing an entirely new sidewalk about halfway down the east side of the 1200 block of Minnesota, in front of 1201 and 1225 Minnesota. We expect this work to take roughly two weeks to complete. Once all sidewalk, curb, gutter and curb ramp construction is complete, we will be re-paving Minnesota Street between 23rd Street and 25th Street. Additional notice will be sent to residents of the area prior to the start of paving work.

6/17/24: Starting this Monday, June 17th, we will be constructing a new concrete sidewalk, curb and gutter area, and curb ramps at the southwest and northwest corner of the 23rd Street and Minnesota Street intersection. We will start by demolishing existing asphalt and re-grading the ground area. Once this is done, we will construct new curb ramps, sidewalk, curb and gutter at these two corners corner of this intersection. We expect this work to take roughly seven to ten working days to complete, and will be wrapped up by the end of June barring any unforeseen circumstances or inclement weather.

5/21/24: Starting next Tuesday, May 28th, we will be installing a new street light pole at the southeast corner of the 25th and Minnesota intersection. We expect this work to take one week in total to complete barring any unforeseen circumstances. On Tuesday, May 28th and Wednesday, May 29th, crews will be installing the pole. They will be running electrical wiring to the pole Wednesday, May 29th through Friday May 31st. We expect final inspection of this work to take place on Friday, May 31st as well.

4/16/24: Starting on April 18th, we will be constructing a new concrete sidewalk, curb and gutter area, and curb ramps at the 25th and Minnesota intersection. We will start by demolishing existing asphalt and re-grading the ground area. Once this is done, we will construct new curb ramps at the Southeast corner of this intersection, re-construct portions of the sidewalk, curb and gutter, and repair some of the concrete street base that is currently damaged or structurally unsound.We expect this work to take roughly one week to complete, and will be wrapped up by April 25th barring any unforeseen circumstances or inclement weather.

4/4/24: Starting on April 22nd, we will be constructing a new concrete sidewalk on the south side of 23rd Street between Minnesota and Tennessee Streets. We will start by demolishing existing asphalt and re-grading the ground in the area. Once this is done, we will construct a new concrete sidewalk on this side of the block, including new gutters and curb ramps at the 23rd and Minnesota intersection. We expect this work to take roughly two weeks to complete.

3/25/24: Curb and electrical work at the 25th and Minnesota intersection will begin this week.  Specifically, our crews will be constructing new curb bulb-outs, new gutters, some re-grading of the area and new curb ramps at the northeast corner of 25th and Minnesota. Additionally, they will be instlaling some underground electrical conduits at the southeast corner of 25th and Minnesota within the next week.

3/18/24: Storm drainage work on Minnesota between 23rd and 24th will begin this week. We expect this work to take 1-2 weeks to complete barring any unforeseen circumstances.Once this work is complete, we will then resume similar storm drainage and catch basin work on Minnesota near the 25th Street intersection, which has experienced slight delays due to unforeseen underground utilities conflicts.

Construction on the Minnesota Streetscape Improvements Project’s first phase is scheduled to begin on Monday, February 26th.  During this phase, our crews will be making improvements to the roadway, drainage, underground utilities and streetlights on Minnesota Street between 24th and 25th Streets. They will not be working within the Minnesota Street Grove at this time. 

On February 26th, they will be starting with some initial storm drainage work as well as some electrical underground work at the intersection of 25th and Minnesota Streets. Throughout this project, local access to the area will be maintained for both pedestrians and vehicles, however some slight delays can be expected during certain scopes of work. The schedule mentioned above is subject to change in the case of inclement weather, unexpected field conditions or equipment issues.