Richfield snow plowing for a seven-square-mile first-ring grid — alleys last, airport next door, and a snow emergency that does not wait for a press conference.
01 The city’s order
Richfield plows high-volume minor arterials and sidewalks first. Collectors next. Local residential streets after that. Alleys last.
Hennepin County plows 66th Street, Penn, Nicollet, and Portland. Those are not city routes and they are not private driveways.
A snow emergency is automatically in effect after four inches. The city manager can also declare one. Cars off the street until the curb is open.
MSP and Fort Snelling sit on the east line. Minneapolis is north. Bloomington is south. Edina is west. The plow job is still the lot you own.
No city-only snowfall normal on this page. The Twin Cities climate figure we use is 51.2 inches a year at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport (MSP / NCEI station USW00014922), the 1991–2020 NOAA climate normal — the same number the Minnesota DNR State Climatology Office publishes. That is the airport station, not a city-by-city total.
02 A compact postwar grid
Census 2020: 36,994 residents on 6.78 square miles of land, density 5,458.0. The city’s own description is about 38,000 people inside seven square miles of neighborhoods, parks, schools, and businesses. The postwar housing boom left a tight street grid and alleys. Commercial land runs along I-494 and 66th Street. Best Buy’s headquarters is in Richfield. See About Richfield.
Residents and businesses with adjacent sidewalks are strongly encouraged to shovel or salt after the city’s first sidewalk pass. The winter parking and snow plowing page is the live rulebook for the four-inch emergency.
03 What we plow in Richfield
Plow MN is licensed and insured. We plow residential driveways and walkways and commercial lots here, seasonal or per-plow. We do not take the city’s arterial-to-alley sequence and we do not take the county’s 66th Street run. We take the private surface that is still closed after the automatic emergency has opened the public curb.
Automatically after four inches of snow. After four inches and/or a declaration by the city manager, no one may stop, stand, park, or leave a vehicle on any street until snow is removed or plowed curb to curb. The rule is on the winter parking page.
High-volume minor arterials and sidewalks first, then collector streets, then local residential streets, then alleys. Hennepin County plows 66th Street, Penn, Nicollet, and Portland. A house on an alley-loaded lot waits longer than a house on an arterial.
Residents and businesses with adjacent sidewalks are strongly encouraged to shovel or salt after the city’s first sidewalk pass. That is the city’s language. The driveway and the commercial lot are still private work.
Census 2020: 36,994 people on 6.78 square miles of land — 5,458.0 per square mile. The city says about 38,000 residents live within seven square miles of neighborhoods, parks, schools, and businesses. The postwar boom produced a compact grid with alleys. Best Buy’s headquarters is here; I-494 and 66th Street carry the commercial edge.
Richfield sits with Minneapolis to the north, MSP International Airport and Fort Snelling to the east, Bloomington to the south, and Edina to the west. City streets are city work. County roads are county work. Private driveways and lots are ours to quote.
The Twin Cities climate figure we use is 51.2 inches a year at Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport (MSP / NCEI station USW00014922), the 1991–2020 NOAA climate normal — the same number the Minnesota DNR State Climatology Office publishes. That is the airport station, not a city-by-city total.
Also plowing
Sources