MORGANTOWN — Steady progress is being made, but there’s likely six weeks of work remaining on the Morgantown Utility Board’s sewer line and stream restoration project along Upper Popenoe Run.
MUB Communications Director Chris Dale said the substantial completion date for the work has been extended to Aug. 31.
In his most recent update to the board, General Manager Mike McNulty indicated contractor Laurita Inc. has three crews at work.
“Crew No. 1, they continue to install the sewer main along the stream and have made it to the Hoffman [Avenue] crossing. The No. 2 crew has completed the Hoffman sanitary and storm sewer installation and have moved just above Bradley Street to install the sewer main toward Stewart Street. Crew No. 3 is completing the restoration of yards and disturbed areas along Hoffman, where the sanitary and storm installation was completed,” McNulty said.
Further, Laurita has contracted with Appalachian Stream Restoration and Reclamation Specialists to begin the stream restoration process, starting at the Willowdale Road end of the project.
Overall, the project stretches from the stadium parking lot side of Willowdale Road and runs between Richland Avenue and Randolph Road to Hoffman Avenue, where it bends and runs behind the homes on Amherst Road to Stewart Street, near Shorty Anderson Auto Service.
The work includes the installation of thousands of linear feet of new sanitary sewer and stormwater infrastructure as well as the restoration of more than 2,300 feet of the Popenoe Run stream and hundreds of tree plantings.
The Upper Popenoe Run stream restoration and sewer line replacement project dates back to 2021, when the city of Morgantown and Monongalia County each pledged $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to address a small portion of MUB’s combined sanitary/stormwater system overwhelmed during historic rain events earlier that summer.
In July 2022, MUB approved a $420,000 contract with E.L. Robinson Engineering for planning, design, bid administration and construction monitoring of the project.
In August 2024, a contract worth $3,228,528 was approved with Laurita Inc. to construct and install the improvements.
