MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A mid-November completion is expected for the City of Morgantown’s largest summer paving project to date.
“I’m proud that the staff has risen to the occasion. They’ve gotten the things done we’d hoped to get done. We believe if we just have a little more good weather here, we’re going to get that one-and-a-half streets finished before winter,” said Interim City Manager Glen Kelly.
The city announced Parrotta Paving will be paving James Street Thursday and Friday. Delays and closures are likely.
An early October completion date had to be pushed back for Morgantown Public Works and Parrotta Paving to finish the paving Kelly mentioned and to place more than 230 ADA ramps to provide better accessibility for residents.
The Safe Streets & Safe Community Municipal Fee generated $1.6 million dollars for road work. Typically, city leaders say they’ve had about $400,000 to use for summer paving.
Aside from dealing with an expanded budget, the number of sections for repair work nearly doubled from about 15 to 28.
Kelly explained there is always room for improvement but his analysis of project, even with delays, is positive.
“Could we have done better? Yes, I’m sure we could’ve. However, the learning curve was huge this year, and we’ll be better next year. So, the engineering staff we’ve got has been working hard and doing a good job.”
By the time the final roads are paved from 2016 planning, the city estimates more than 11,000 tons of asphalt will have been used.
The life span of a newly paved street could be 10 to 20 years depending upon traffic flow according to city leaders.