I'm having the same issue near a sidewalk but it's not the entire span of the sidewalk. The cause is likely the same as what's happening to you.

Hopefully someone can help us.

 

Dealing with same small spots like this and like @mazurkfsflip mentioned. In my case it's rocks and heat from hard scape. I've been drenching with water after raking lightly and adding more seed and top dress. Your lawn looks great overall.

 

What have your daily high temps been? I like T Zone for cooler periods. It's a potent 4 way especially if you have any woody broadleaf. Alternatively Ortho weed b gone on clover when it's warmer has great knock down on clover.

 

What did it look like in Spring? Was there a bunch of Poa Annua there? That gets toasty in the summer and may be confused as heat stress when the issue is more of a different issue. I see a lot of neighbor edges by the driveway and street that don't do well fill in with Poa A and then go dormant/die brown when the daytime heat hits 85F+.

Otherwise, then likely heat stress and needs water. Sometimes the edges need extra hand watering.

 

My money is on a soil depth issue.

 

My money is on a soil depth issue.

^+1
Rocks, gravel, and sand used as a base foundation for the asphalt driveway.

 

What did it look like in Spring? Was there a bunch of Poa Annua there? That gets toasty in the summer and may be confused as heat stress when the issue is more of a different issue. I see a lot of neighbor edges by the driveway and street that don't do well fill in with Poa A and then go dormant/die brown when the daytime heat hits 85F+.

Otherwise, then likely heat stress and needs water. Sometimes the edges need extra hand watering.

Here's an image from the spring when it was in great condition:

And here's an image from a couple weeks ago:

 

Probe the area with a 12 inch screwdriver or similar to see if there are a lot of rocks and rule out debris. That looks like drought stress and damage. Though some lawn diseases like Summer Patch look like drought stress, the location suggests heat from the blacktop and/or debris like LawnMavrik said. Look at irrigation issues as a possible contributor. If you have in ground, it may not be uniform or enough if it has been dry. The same applies if you use hose end sprinklers.

 

Thanks to all for the feedback.

Do you agree that it's most likely heat stress perhaps due to shallow root system near the pavement? Perhaps the fertilizer caused some burn as well.

In addition to watering these areas more, any suggestions for how to prevent this going forward? Are there any grass types that do better with heat and shallow roots that I should overseed with in the fall around these areas? Should I add more topsoil?

Is the brown grass there dead or do you think it will come back with rain and watering?

 

If it's rocks and stuff under a relatively thin amount of soil, you may want to consider digging it up and replacing it with a base of deeper and better soil, so the grass roots can take hold deep enough.

If you don't have a bunch of rocks and gravel underneath, then maybe it's just a watering issue going forward. A few simple but deep hand waterings may help out a lot.

The brown material should hopefully come back, but you seem to have a lot of dead matted material there that may choke the grass from coming back. You should consider taking that out with a dethatched and then later with a thatch rake to clean it up as much as possible, preferably in the fall. That may be enough to have the grass come back in, otherwise you may want to throw a bit of seed in some of the bare spots and keep them moist until grass begins to grow in.

If you go the grass seed route, then maybe consider some cultivars that do well near driveways and sidewalks.

 

I have the same issue along sidewalk strips in the Pacific Northwest. It has nothing to do with fertilizers, salts, bugs, or more soil. It is 100% from the curb concrete heating up and drying out the grass next to it. Neighbors who carefully water along the curbs do not have problems, but that is very time consuming. I installed side-strip water sprinklers in one area and that also solved it.

I have one other area I need to fix, but am not ready to put in more side-strip sprinklers. So I am considering two ideas that I am curious to see if they work.
a) During the dry season, use a garden fork to poke holes (aerate) along the edge and create micro wells that hold water for the roots, and/or
b) burying 1/2 inch white pvc pipe with small drilled holes along the edge. It would be under the grass so you don't see it. This would have a number of benefits: slightly separate the grass from the concrete, provide a water reservoir, keep soil cooler.
I think both of these ideas can work, but I will try "a" first.

 

I have the same issue along sidewalk strips in the Pacific Northwest. It has nothing to do with fertilizers, salts, bugs, or more soil. It is 100% from the curb concrete heating up and drying out the grass next to it. Neighbors who carefully water along the curbs do not have problems, but that is very time consuming. I installed side-strip water sprinklers in one area and that also solved it.

I have one other area I need to fix, but am not ready to put in more side-strip sprinklers. So I am considering two ideas that I am curious to see if they work.
a) During the dry season, use a garden fork to poke holes (aerate) along the edge and create micro wells that hold water for the roots, and/or
b) burying 1/2 inch white pvc pipe with small drilled holes along the edge. It would be under the grass so you don't see it. This would have a number of benefits: slightly separate the grass from the concrete, provide a water reservoir, keep soil cooler.
I think both of these ideas can work, but I will try "a" first.

I recently moved to the NW and this is my first spring. My yard is starting this browning near the road, very frustrating! How did your option a or b work?

 

This spot along the hellstrip would always go dormant first every early summer.

After two summers, I decided to explore what might be underneath and found...

There was more small stuff but most of the massive pieces were removed. I'm certain my hellstrip is full of random gravel and smaller cement chunks.

Do you have images from previous summers? My area always made the same dormant shape which led me to believe debris was underneath.

 

Our hellstrip looks basically same as yours. Our neighborhood is built on landfill, so below 3 inches or so of topsoil is just rock and clay. I don't have any pictures of the burnt grass, but it looks similar to the original pictures from this thread .... Browning in a thin (but widening) strip along the curb. More water, or a method to hold water long enough for roots to get it is the solution in my case.

 

I have the same going on next to our road. Smaller area. I plan on digging out the rocks underneath. Today, I spread some hydretain in the area. Not sure if it will help shallow soil, but I'm going to find out.

 

The gentlemen that mentioned rock/thin soil are correct. The edges of driveways and sidewalks have ca-6 compacted gravel underneath to support the load of the concrete. On the edges its likely you only have 1 inch of soil over crushed rock. The roots cant grow in the rock, then the heat from the pavement transfers into the rock and its like a giant desiccant/oven that you cant grow on in the heat. The only remedy is to dig outward 3-4 feet and down a foot or so and fill with soil. I've had to do this at two homes, once I did this my lawn butts right up to the driveway as green as the rest. its a pain in the arse and only in the spring/late fall will it look ok due to the colder and wet conditions.

 

You seem to have knowledge about the base material used, since you named it above (ca-6). Do you also have knowledge about the structure of driveways and walkways? If so, I've been trying to figure out: is there a technical reason that the edges of the lawn need to be gravel beyond the driveway? Are we compromising our driveways or walkways by digging out base material around them in return for a better lawn? Should grass not go right up to hardscape areas and there should he some sort of buffer zone instead (what, I'm not sure)? Or is it just error/slop in the construction process that causes too much crushed stone to go beyond the edges? Or it has to be put beyond the edge, but is ok to dig out after the driveway or walkway is established for a while and settles? It seems to be a very common issue and I'm trying to understand why.

 

I know this thread is old but I have a very similar issue (albeit alongside block paved areas) and in my case it is 100% heat stress and/or the concrete acting as a sponge and pulling the moisture out of the adjacent soil, caused solely by the proximity of the concrete kerbing. I know this because I ONLY have this problem where my sprinklers don't reach and as I built all the paving and driveway around my house, I know it's not compacted gravel or concrete lurking just under the surface. There are several inches of good soil beneath the grass everywhere. Once I realised that this was the issue I started intensively hand watering the edges where the sprinklers don't (yet) reach and hey presto.....the grass started turning back green. It's particularly noticable right now as we have had no real rain in around 2 weeks here. I am glad I learned about this before embarking on my project to underground the irrigation. I know the spots that will need particular care.

 

When walkways drive ways are built the base is usually wider than what you see finished above ground. Also the construction crew will burry anything not worth hauling out.
I have to water carefully along my driveway not only is there rock and sand just bellow the surface the kids get out of the car on that side.
Once the summer hot comes The well/power line across the back is noticeable less green and active.
Im trying hydratain this season

the easy fix is a mulched bed along the edges….

 

This looks like heat stress, but I wouldn’t rule out grubs either. Insect damage can cause your soil to dry out very quickly as well. One thing to notice during the hot days if you noticed that your grass started turning a dark green. This is a sign of your lawn going into dormancy without any water. Quick fix to your lawn. Thrown down a cheap grub control from Menards that includes Imidacloprid. Use a starter fertilizer such as a 12-12-12 or something similar. Use humic and/or biochar such as Jonathan Green Love Your Soil or Lesco Carbon Pro-G. Throw a layer of peat moss or compost on the damaged areas and reseed those areas. Water heavy. I’m sure it will come back before summer.

 

How did a and b work for you?