Roads
Nowthen spends less per mile on its roads than any other Anoka County city, about $15,238 a year per mile of city road from 2021 to 2023. Click a road on the map to see its engineer pavement ratings, its project history (overlays, reconstructions, assessments), and everything else the archive says about it. Highlighted roads have a rating or a project in the city record. Gray means no record in the archive yet, which begins around 2011 plus the 2008 and 2015 studies. Tan roads are maintained by Anoka County or the state. The map is drawn from Anoka County's official centerline data.
Source links go to official records. Project summaries are AI-extracted and have not been checked by hand.
Read nextWhat Nowthen's roads cost, and why →How much road the city owns, what it spends to keep it up next to every other Anoka County city, and why each new subdivision adds road the whole town pays for. The figures come from the city's own records.Key facts
- MnDOT counts 58.7 miles of city-owned road in Nowthen, Minnesota, as of 2024. (MnDOT road mileage)
- City staff describe about 61 miles, 36 paved and 25 gravel, as of January 2026. The two sources count the same roads somewhat differently. (January 13, 2026 improvement hearing)
- The 2026 road operating budget is $537,725, about $9,114 per mile. (What Nowthen’s roads cost)
- Nowthen spent about $15,238 a year per mile of city road from 2021 to 2023, the lowest of 20 Anoka County cities. (Minnesota State Auditor city finances)
- The 2026 overlay contract was awarded at $427,589, and the city assesses 50% of overlay and reconstruction costs to the owners who benefit. (What Nowthen’s roads cost)
Updated
Interactive map of Nowthen roads, color-coded by whether the archive holds a pavement-condition rating or project record. Use the rating table and project lists below for a text list of roads, ratings, and projects.
Click any road on the map to see what the city record holds for it, including pavement ratings, the engineer's recommended repair and its cost, and a jump to everything else the archive says about it.
＋ Why the map doesn't mark gravel, and the mileage figures－ Hide note
Surface type (paved vs. gravel) isn't published in the county's road data, so this map doesn't mark which roads are gravel yet. At the January 13, 2026 improvement hearing the city engineer told the council Nowthen maintains about 36 miles of paved roads and 25 miles of gravel roads (see the record). The cross-city table below uses MnDOT's city-owned centerline mileage (58.68 miles) so every city is measured the same way. The city's own public-works description rounds the system to about 61 miles. They describe the same roads, counted slightly differently.
What every city in the county spends on streets
How many miles of road each city actually maintains, what it spends on streets, and how it pays. The debt service column covers every bond a city pays on, for any purpose, so it does not show how much a city borrowed for roads. That would take each city's bond purposes, which this table does not include. Spending per road mile is a three-year average of audited spending (2021 to 2023) by default, because one big overlay or reconstruction year can make any single year misleading. Spending comes from the MN State Auditor and road miles (2024) from MnDOT. Rows are ordered by similarity to Nowthen.
＋ Show the full 20-city comparison table－ Hide the comparison table
| City | City road miles | Street spending, average a year (2021 to 2023) | Per road mile, 3-year average | Street construction (2023) | Citywide debt service, all purposes (2023) | Special assessments (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nowthen that's us | 58.7 | $894,183.67 | $15,238.30 | $162,443 | $442,878 | $119,738 |
| Ham Lake | 155.6 | $3,428,732 | $22,038.39 | $2,645,876 | $203,542 | $63,394 |
| Andover | 206.4 | $8,074,284 | $39,115.80 | $8,450,682 | $3,917,157 | $1,114,953 |
| East Bethel | 131.3 | $4,344,193 | $33,088.53 | $1,583,806 | $876,125 | $302,086 |
| Lino Lakes | 107.1 | $4,771,161.33 | $44,561.14 | $2,642,338 | $2,907,744 | $1,025,575 |
| Columbus | 71.3 | $1,964,201.67 | $27,536.82 | $729,457 | $1,114,592 | $534,217 |
| Oak Grove | 124.7 | $2,186,600.67 | $17,534.89 | $1,697,873 | $15,142 | $86,484 |
| Ramsey | 187.9 | $14,445,213 | $76,877.13 | $12,175,501 | $3,579,179 | $562,227 |
| Centerville | 16.3 | $836,386.67 | $51,217.80 | $184,410 | $398,703 | $198,640 |
| Bethel | 2.8 | $107,062 | $37,965.25 | $65,900 | $85,169 | $0 |
| St. Francis | 49.2 | $1,457,562 | $29,649.35 | $569,826 | $859,851 | $41,092 |
| Circle Pines | 17.4 | $2,090,127.33 | $120,122.26 | $198,884 | $1,306,096 | $276,500 |
| Coon Rapids | 219.4 | $13,624,340.33 | $62,101.01 | $7,234,160 | $6,851,402 | $2,149,249 |
| Blaine | 259.3 | $26,156,377.33 | $100,880.81 | $26,095,631 | $6,325,309 | $1,490,490 |
| Fridley | 103.3 | $5,477,217.33 | $53,017.30 | $5,721,043 | $5,572,085 | $683,922 |
| Spring Lake Park | 27.2 | $868,562.67 | $31,920.72 | $61,457 | $741,812 | $78,891 |
| Columbia Heights | 57 | $5,034,572 | $88,263.88 | $4,990,838 | $3,929,008 | $819,886 |
| Lexington | 9.2 | $472,513.33 | $51,137.81 | $135,683 | $252,938 | $81,511 |
| Anoka | 72.8 | $22,685,545.67 | $311,614.64 | $2,673,135 | $2,268,308 | $689,000 |
| Hilltop | 1.3 | $232,920 | $181,968.75 | $27,683 | $0 | $0 |
Street spending combines maintenance, snow and ice, engineering, lighting, construction, and other street capital outlay. By default it is the average of the three latest audited years (2021 to 2023) divided by MnDOT's latest city-owned road miles, the same figures the road funding article uses. The 2023 only view divides that one audited year by the road miles for the same year. Construction, debt service, and special assessments are 2023 figures. Debt service is bond principal plus interest across all funds, not only roads.
Road projects
The projects the council actually voted to pay for, one line each, with the company that did the work and the price the city agreed to, read straight from the award resolution. For a single road's full history, click it on the map above.
Each award is read from the council's award resolution, and each source link goes to that record.
2025 awards
Overlay Project2025
Krypton Street · Lithium Street · 189th Lane · 194th Lane · Tiger Street
Work by North Valley, Inc.
Culvert Replacement on 218th Ave NW2025
218th Ave NW
Work by Dave Perkins Contracting
＋ Show awards from earlier years (5)－ Hide earlier years
Striping Quotes for Old Viking Blvd., 185th & 187th, and Clifton Road2023
Old Viking Blvd · 185th · 187th · Clifton Road
Work by Sir Lines-A-Lot LLC
Road Improvement Projects (Old Viking Boulevard, Halas Street, Garnet Street, Meadows of Verde Valley Addition and Rolling Hills)2019
Old Viking Boulevard · Halas Street · Garnet Street · Meadows of Verde Valley Addition · Rolling Hills
Work by North Valley, Inc.
Crack Seal Bids2016
Work by Asphalt Concrete Solutions
$28,973.70accepted bidsource p.6full bid (PDF)Birchwood Lane cul-de-sac construction2014
Birchwood Lane
Work by Dennis Hall Etd. Excavating
$7,401.50accepted bidsource p.5full bid (PDF)Road Patching2011
Work by Diversified Paving
$37,380accepted bidsource p.4full bid (PDF)
Explore the complete road record →
Every road project the meeting record mentions, year by year, including estimates, studies, bids, assessments, and plans for years ahead. AI-extracted, with a source link on each entry.
What the engineer's rating studies say
The September 2015 city engineer memo re-rated the roads first studied in 2008, on a 0–100 scale, and printed a recommended repair and planning-level cost for each. Figures are shown exactly as printed. Where one estimate covered several roads as a single job, the note says so.
＋ Show the road-by-road rating table (14 roads)－ Hide the rating table
| Road | 2008 rating | 2015 rating | Engineer's recommendation (2015) | Printed estimate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 182nd Ln NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlayPrinted estimate of $530,000 covers the nine Rogers Lake area roads as one job (Waco St, Waco Dr, 182nd Ln, Ventre St, 183rd Ln, 184th Ave, 185th Ln, Yakima St, Salish Cir). The 2008 ratings "63-93" and 2015 ratings "48-80" are printed as ranges across the group, not per road.One job covering 9 roads. The estimate is for the whole job. | $530,000 | packet p.1 |
| 183rd Ln NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| 184th Ave NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| 185th Ln NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Salish Cir NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Ventre St NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Waco Dr NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Waco St NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Yakima St NW | 63-93 | 48-80 | Repair failed areas of bituminous, skim patching or tight blading to correct the "dips", correct subgrade (approx. 150') on the north end of Yakima Street, and construct a 2" overlaySame job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Ebony St NW | 54 | 35 | Total reconstruct (severe alligator cracking, inadequate structural strength; subgrade repair and drainage improvements needed)Printed estimate of $580,000 covers Ebony Street and Garnet Street as one job.One job covering 2 roads. The estimate is for the whole job. | $580,000 | packet p.1 |
| Garnet St NW | 59 | 38 | Total reconstruct (severe alligator cracking, inadequate structural strength; subgrade repair and drainage improvements needed)Same job as above ↑ | incl. above | |
| Krypton St NW | 67 | 56 | Patch failed areas and construct a 2" overlay | $110,000 | packet p.2 |
| Old Viking Blvd NW2015 rating covers CR 66 to HWY 47 | 78-81 | 53 | Patch isolated failed areas and construct a 2" overlayThe 2015 rating of 53 is printed for the segment from CR 66 to HWY 47 only; the 2008 rating 78-81 covers the full 18,370' (3.48 mi) road. | $540,000 | packet p.1 |
| Watercrest Blvd NW | 65 | 58 | Total reconstruct | $140,000 | packet p.1 |
Ratings and estimates are copied verbatim from the engineer's memo. Ranges (like “48–80”) are how the memo printed group studies. A 2024-commissioned rating study exists in presentation form only, and its tables are not yet in the archive's machine-readable record.
What it costs to keep roads from failing
Keeping roads from failing costs more than most people think, but far less if the money is spent at the right time. The Minnesota Department of Transportation's own engineering guidance says a pavement is cheapest to keep good while it is still good. Once it's allowed to crack, ravel, and break apart, the only fix left is the most expensive one.
“Since they are relatively inexpensive in comparison to resurfacing or reconstruction projects, the preventive maintenance treatments are an effective means to preserve the investment in the pavement asset.”MnDOT, Pavement Preservation Manual
The gap between the two is enormous. The table below gives MnDOT's own representative costs, per lane-mile, for a road kept on a preservation cycle versus one left to fail.
| Treatment | When it's used | Cost per lane-mile |
|---|---|---|
| Crack sealing | Good pavement, routine upkeep | ~$3,700 |
| Thin bituminous overlay | Fair pavement, resurfacing | ~$23,000–$42,000 |
| Full-depth reclamation | Pavement has failed structurally | ~$210,000 |
| Full reconstruction | End of life, rebuilt from the dirt up | up to ~$2,000,000 |
A preservation program using treatments such as crack sealing (about $3,700 a lane-mile here) and thin overlays can extend pavement life and delay much more expensive work. Skip that upkeep, and the same lane-mile eventually needs a reclamation or reconstruction costing roughly 5 to 60 times as much as a thin overlay. That multiple compares one-time prices per lane-mile. It is not a benefit-cost ratio, which would also count how long each treatment lasts, how often it repeats, and whether a road still qualifies for the cheaper one. MnDOT puts it in life-cycle terms. The point of a preservation program is “maximizing the condition and life of a network of pavements while minimizing the network's life-cycle cost.”
So the practical goal for a road budget is to preserve roads while preservation is still cost-effective and to avoid preventable early reconstruction. Every road eventually needs major work, but timing matters. A city that under-funds preservation isn't saving money. It's borrowing it from a much larger future bill. The street-spending table above is one way to see whether a city is keeping up. Low street spending alone does not prove a city is deferring work, and the table's debt service figures cover all city bonds, not only roads.
Costs are MnDOT representative figures, per lane-mile, from the Pavement Preservation Manual and the reconstruction/reclamation range from MnDOT's Transportation Asset Management life-cycle cost guide. Actual bids vary with road width, traffic, and the year. These are planning numbers, not quotes.
Dust control (calcium chloride), by year
Nowthen sprays calcium chloride (lately magnesium chloride / “dust coating”) on its gravel roads each year to hold down dust. Below is what the record shows the city treated and paid, year by year. Each year shows the contract award or paid claim where the record has it, otherwise the quote or estimate, as printed. Recent years are treated citywide by the mile rather than road-by-road, and older plans named each street. The city has noted it can afford dust control on only about 10 to 11 of its roughly 25 miles of gravel road a year, at roughly $4,800 per mile.
Some years the record names the individual streets that were treated. Other years it gives only a citywide mileage. Both appear below as the record has them.
Yearly summaries are AI-extracted and have not been checked by hand.
＋ Show dust control, year by year (18 years)－ Hide the year-by-year list
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Roads treated: 205th Ave NW · 223rd · Basalt · Hillside Trl NW · Variolite · Verde Valley Rd NW · West Ford Brook Dr · Xenon · Zeolite
Roads treated: 189th Ave NW · 191st Ln NW · 204th Ave NW · 205th · 205th Ave NW · 207th Ave NW · 223rd Ave NW · 229th Ave NW · Basalt St NW · Hillendale Rd NW · Hillside Trl NW · Peridot St NW · Post Rd NW · Rabbit St NW · Verde Valley Rd NW · West Ford Brook Dr NW · +4 more
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Roads treated: 189th · 191st to Yttrium · 204th and Yttrium · 205th · 207th · 223rd · 229th · Basalt · Hillendale · Hillside Trl NW · Peridot · Post Rd NW · Rabbit · Verde Valley Rd NW · W-Ford Brook · Wolfram · +3 more
Roads treated: 189th Ave NW · 191st Ave NW · 204th Ave NW · 205th Ave NW · 207th Ave NW · 223rd Ave NW · Basalt St NW · Hillside Trl NW · Peridot St NW · Post Rd NW · Variolite St NW · Verde Valley Rd NW · West Ford Brook Dr NW · Wolfram St NW · Xenon St NW · Yttrium St NW · +1 more
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Roads treated: 189th Ave NW · 191st Ave NW · 191st Ave NW (off Hwy 66) · 191st Ln NW · 199th Ave NW · 203rd Ave NW · 204th Ave / Yttrium St. · 205th Ave/ Peridot/207th Ave NW · 229th (1/2 cost w/St Francis) · Basalt St NW · Engen Blvd NW · Hillendale Rd NW · Old Viking Blvd NW · Rhinestone St NW · Twin Pkwy NW · Verde Valley Rd NW · +4 more
Roads treated: 205th Ave NW · 229th 1/2 Cost (with St.Francis) · Hillendale Rd NW · Post Rd NW · Variolite St NW · Verde Valley Rd NW · Xenon St NW · Zeolite St NW
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Citywide gravel-road program. The record does not itemize individual streets this year.
Roads treated: 189th Ln NW · 191st · 191st Ave NW · 204th Ave/Yttrium St. · 205th · 223rd Ave NW · 229th Ave NW · Basalt St NW · Engin · Hillendale Rd NW · Post Rd NW · Rabbit St NW · Variolite St NW · Verde Valley Rd NW · Wolfram St NW · Xenon St NW · +1 more
Roads treated: 189th · 191st · 205th · 223rd · 229th · Basalt · Post Rd NW · Rabbit · Spinnaker · Variolite · West Ford Brook Dr NW · Wolfram · Xenon St NW · Yttrium · Zeolite · Zeolite St NW · +1 more
Roads treated: 205th · Basalt · Basalt St NW · Hillendale · Rabbit · Variolite · Verde Valley Rd NW · West Ford Brook Dr · Xenon St NW · Zeolite/229th/Hillside Trails
Roads treated: 205th · Basalt · Basalt St NW · Hillendale · Variolite · Verde Valley Rd NW · Zeolite/229th/Hillside Trails
Roads treated: 205th Ave NW · Hillendale · Hillside Trl NW · Variolite · Verde Valley Rd NW · Zeolite
Costs are the figure most specific to each year's dust-control action as printed. A paid claim comes first, then an awarded contract, then a quote or staff estimate. When a year has both a payment and the bid it paid against, both are shown and labeled, because the amount paid so far can differ from the amount awarded. They are not the line-item budget appropriation. Click a gravel road on the map above to see which years it appears in the record.
Common questions
How many miles of road does Nowthen maintain?
MnDOT counts 58.7 miles of city-owned road. City staff describe about 61 miles, 36 paved and 25 gravel. (MnDOT road mileage)
How much does Nowthen spend on roads?
The 2026 budget sets $537,725 for road operations, including plowing, patching, and engineering. Overlays and reconstruction are paid separately, and the 2026 overlay was awarded at $427,589. (What Nowthen’s roads cost)
How does Nowthen’s road spending compare with other Anoka County cities?
Nowthen averaged about $15,238 a year per city road mile from 2021 to 2023. The median among 20 Anoka County cities was about $47,849 per mile. (Minnesota State Auditor city finances)
Do Nowthen homeowners pay assessments for road projects?
Yes. The city assesses 50% of overlay and reconstruction costs to the property owners who benefit. (What Nowthen’s roads cost)
Where this comes from
Road geometry comes from Anoka County GIS open data (road centerlines, community boundary, lakes), downloaded June 12, 2026 and archived unchanged. Ratings come from the city engineer's September 2, 2015 memo “Updated Road Ratings and Cost Estimates” in the September 8, 2015 council packet, read without any AI reading the numbers. Project histories (the road record and each road's panel) are AI-extracted from agendas, packets, and minutes. No project figure is an official budget number. For anything not yet captured, search any road by name via the archive search.