MORGANTOWN — A busy shortcut between Willowdale Road and University Avenue is about to get some long-awaited attention.
A $469,310 contract with Parrotta Paving has been approved for improvements to North and Grove streets. Parrotta was the lowest of six bidders for the project.
“If anybody has driven North Street, it’s narrow and necks down to about 15 feet or less over a blind hill. It’s at the edge of a neighborhood, so it’s a big cut-through street with a lot of pedestrians,” Morgantown Public Works Director Damien Davis explained.
“As part of this we’re going to widen the street out to 20 feet — two 10-foot lanes and have a five-foot sidewalk on the (north) side of it all the way from University Avenue to Willowdale, which will tie into sidewalks on both of those roadways.”
Davis said stop signs will be placed at the intersection of North Street and Jones Avenue in an effort to slow traffic cutting through the area.
The Morgantown Utility Board is currently relocating utilities ahead of the project.
Work is expected to begin in the next month or so. Once started, the project will be substantially complete within 60 days, according to Davis.
The city initially set aside $300,000 in 2019 to widen and improve North Street, but that project never materialized due to the onset of COVID.
Third Ward Councilor Louise Michael said she’s one of many who frequently use North Street to navigate the neighborhood.
“We’re excited about it,” she said. “That road is pretty bad.”
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