01-08-2025
Morgantown getting a late start on summer paving project
MORGANTOWN — The city of Morgantown is running behind schedule when it comes to its summer paving project in more ways than one.
Morgantown City Council is expected to vote on the street list proposed by the city's engineering department when it convenes Tuesday for its first meeting in August.
Contrast this against the 2024 calendar, which saw council approve the street roster as well as the actual work bid on May 21.
Even so, staff engineer Drew Gatlin said he doesn't foresee the late start being an issue – quite the contrary, in fact.
'We are slightly behind where we typically are for this year. I definitely want to just get out there and be flat with that. But I don't think that we are in a bad position with the paving project,' he said. 'We have extended our paving season several times in years past and paved pretty much until the asphalt plants close. I think it actually helps us to be competitive in this growing region – everybody's paving more and more.'
The proposed project list includes all or portions of 43 streets representing about 6.5 miles of resurfacing. There are 13 alternative streets that could receive attention based on bid results as well as a review by the Morgantown Utility Board meant to prevent planned utility work from tearing up newly resurfaced travel lanes.
Gatlin explained that the city is using an updated pavement assessment to help prioritize projects in a manner that most efficiently utilizes the funds provided by the $3 weekly user fee collected from every person working within Morgantown's municipal boundaries.
The user fee, or Safe Streets & Safe Communities Municipal Fee, went into effect in January 2016 for the purpose of supporting the city's police and public works departments as well as street paving and maintenance.
As part of its fiscal year 2026 spending plan, the city anticipates collecting $4.2 million in user fee revenue. Of that amount, 45% or $1.89 million, is earmarked for streets.
While that number is not dissimilar from years past, – and the city has the same 100 miles of streets to maintain (approximately) – a dollar doesn't travel as far in 2025 as it did in 2017.
'At one point, when our user fee dollars were going the extra mile, so to speak, we were on what I thought was a 10-year cycle,' Gatlin said, laying out the original expectation of how long it would take to pave every city-maintained street. 'We are now not anymore on a 10-year cycle.'
According to Gatlin, this most recent assessment indicated the city would need to invest double its current allocation to maintain the current condition of city streets.
'I'm pushing back on that a little bit …, but I just want to be honest about what those findings were,' he said.
Despite falling off that 10-year pace, the city is still far ahead of the 100-plus-year pace it was on prior to the implementation of the user fee, when it could invest, on average, about $290,000 annually into paving.
So far, in seven user fee-funded paving projects, just over 50 miles of city streets have been resurfaced. There was no summer paving in 2020 due to COVID-19.
'We recognize that rising costs and inflation have made it increasingly difficult to achieve the same outcomes that we had in the past. Despite these challenges, our commitment remains strong,' communications director Brad Riffee explained.
But it's more than just inflation. It's also declining user fee revenues.
The city's user fee collections in the 2025 fiscal year ($4,078,487.92) were the lowest since COVID-impacted FY 2021 ($4,006,757.27).
In the four years prior to FY 2021, the city averaged just over $4.44 million annually in user fees. In the four years since, the average is just over $4.14 million.
Is your street on the 2026 list?
The anticipated cost of the 2026 paving plan is $1.1 million, plus the cost of the work contract.
The plan, as presented, would include all or portions of:
– Afton, Ash, Beaver, Bradley, Court, East End, Fortney, Garrett, George, Gibbons, Hill, Moore, Morgan, North High, Parsons, Perdue, Sarah, Springbrook, Vernon, Warrick, Wells and Woodburn streets.
– Clearview, Curtis, Eastland, Euclid, Fife, Jackson, Mansion, Pennsylvania, Wayne and Westview avenues
– Kenwood, Schubert, Sylvan, Villa and Vista places
– Hart Field, Meadowbrook and Ridgeley roads
– Morgan Alley and Wilson Circle
