MORGANTOWN — Morgantown Staff Engineer Drew Gatlin recently told Morgantown City Council the city would need half a billion dollars to complete every sidewalk project on its wish list.
It’s going to start with half a million.
Lakecrest Construction, out of Fairmont, has been awarded a $558,450 contract to take on a series of pedestrian improvements at seven locations across the city.
The project is being funded using American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The city earmarked $1 million of it’s $11.2 million ARPA allocation for pedestrian upgrades.
Gatlin said this is just the first round of what he believes will be “historic sidewalk investment.”
“We did initially promise projects in every single ward. This set of projects does not exactly meet that, but we have seen sidewalk investments in every ward over the past few years, and we will definitely be continuing to bring more proposals as the year goes on,” he said.
This initial group of projects was selected by pulling the top 93 (of some 750) projects identified in the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2020 Regional Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Plan.
Gatlin worked with the Morgantown Traffic Commission and Pedestrian Safety Board to sort and rank the projects based on cost, visibility/disbursement across the city and risk of complications like required approvals from the state or other entities.
In addition to this work, the city has initiated a planning process to develop a comprehensive capital plan for sidewalk and related investments over the next 20 years
Among the projects slated for spring are:
First Ward will see a new, highly visible crosswalk on Dorsey Avenue at Wagner Road. The plans include more narrow travel lanes, upgraded curb ramps, shorter crossing distances, flashing lights, and a climbing bike lane from South High Street to Barrickman Street.
Third Ward will see major changes to the sidewalks on Eureka Drive surrounding the Wiles Hill Community Center. The project will close some gaps in the sidewalk on Center Street, eliminate the stairs on Eureka, replace/widen/relocate the sidewalk on Eureka, install a raised crosswalk to and provide a more accessible route down to the playground, and improve drainage along the corridor.
Fourth Ward will see two longstanding gaps in the sidewalk network along Oakland Street finally filled with new sidewalks, new curb ramps, and a raised crosswalk at West Everly. The project will also reconfigure Oakland’s intersection with Harding to shorten the crossing distance and narrow the turn radius to slow traffic entering Harding.
Fourth and Seventh Wards will see a new, highly visible crosswalk on University Avenue between Mulberry and Junior. A new sidewalk will close a gap between Junior and the nearby shops and improve drainage through the corridor while also straightening out and narrowing the Junior / University intersection to a more standard design.
Sixth Ward will see a new entrance threshold to the South Hills neighborhood at the top of the hill on Buckhannon Avenue. The neighborhood entrance will come with speed cushions, radar speed feedback signs, and custom welcome signage on each side of the road to narrow the travel corridor and communicate the neighborhood’s “shared streets” characteristics.
Seventh Ward will see a more accessible reconfiguration of the existing Selwin-Lawnview Trail Connector, which will also be paved and lit with pedestrian-scale lighting and outfitted with wayfinding on this important link in one of the Safe Routes to Schools for Suncrest Elementary and Suncrest Middle.
In other city news, Reclaim Company will be paid $81,998.01 to tear down the former Bartlett House shelter at 1110 University Ave. and the neighboring structure at 1116 University Ave, both of which are still owned by Bartlett House Inc.
“The city’s code enforcement has inspected the property with the consent of the owner, Bartlett House Inc. and condemned the structure. It is in need of demolition due to the structural conditions,” attorney Ryan Simonton said. “The city is in the process of working with the owner to try to make sure this demolition results in an appropriate redevelopment for that parcel. Those details are not finalized yet.”
Reclaim will also demolish a condemned house at 1231 Montrose Ave. for $10,250.
Simonton said funding for the demolition work is coming through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s dilapidated properties program.
