MORGANTOWN – While the Morgantown Utility Board is still awaiting a preliminary engineering report expected to arrive in the coming weeks, initial returns on the condition of stormwater infrastructure along the lower portion of Popenoe Run indicate there are significant challenges.
MUB approved a $72,000 task order for Thrasher Group in October to compile the report and accompanying hydraulic study for the stormwater system located primarily along Patteson Drive between the WVU Alumni Center and Krepps Park.
The Popenoe Run watershed has been an area of focus for MUB since the historic, back-to-back rain events in the summer of 2021 flooded the area.
An initial round of improvements, totaling $3.28 million, focused on the upper portion of Popenoe Run.
That project, which ran from the stadium parking lot side of Willowdale Road to Stewart Street near Shorty Anderson Auto Service, was completed last fall by Laurita Excavating. It included new sewer and stormwater infrastructure as well as about 3,000 feet of stream restoration.
As for the lower portion, Assistant General Manager Rich Rogers said initial conversations with Thrasher indicate the eight-foot diameter culvert running through a portion of the area “has issues.”
“I think we know that by all the cones that are sitting up in the parking lot,” Rogers said, referencing an area in the Patteson Drive Burger King parking lot that has been cordoned off due to the potential for sinkholes since a restaurant patron’s vehicle began sinking into the pavement last June.
“They did tell us though that there’s no concern for something catastrophic to happen there. It’s just, over time, eating away at some of that soil. There might be a sinkhole that shows up to the surface,” Rogers said.
Looking at the underlying cause, it appears the dirt is being destabilized by separations at each of the culvert’s joints.
“They also talked about the stream downstream of that in front of Chick-fil-A that runs down to the 90-degree culvert across Patteson. The banks have sloughed in there and reduced capacity of that stream,” he said, explaining Thrasher’s report will include alternatives on how to address both the culvert and the stream.
“The replacement of that eight-foot culvert would be a big deal. Can we line it somehow from inside without having to rip it all out and replace it? If we did replace it, is there a chance we can make it bigger? Is any of that possible? And then what to do with that stream going down through there,” Rogers said. “Plus, they’re going to look a little above that and below that through Krepps as well. So there may be some things in those areas they suggest.”
According to Rogers, Thrasher’s report is expected by the middle of April.
In other MUB news, the board approved a $940,147.50 bid from Parrotta Paving for the second phase of the Cobun Creek interceptor project.
That work will include the construction and installation of 1,530 linear feet of gravity PVC sewer pipe ranging in diameter from six to 24 inches, as well as the installation of 220 linear feet of 18-inch HDPE gravity sewer pipe and the installation of 15 new manholes.
Lastly, the board accepted a bid of $375,300 from Greer Limestone Company for MUB’s annual stone needs.
