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ZZUNUSED
Paving to begin on roads next month
HUNTINGTON -- Some of Huntington's worst roads could be paved as early as next month.
A $457,000 contract for street resurfacing will go before Huntington City Council on Monday as the first reading of an ordinance.
The council likely will vote on the contract at its Sept. 8 meeting, which means blacktop crews could be out in force as early as mid-to-late September, said Charles Holley, the city's director of development and planning.
Mayor David Felinton did not allocate any money for street paving in the 2008-2009 budget proposal that he distributed to council members in February. But the final version that council members approved in March included $430,000 for street resurfacing this year. The federal Community Development Block Grant program will cover the remaining $27,000 of the paving contract, Holley said.
The city will be able to pave about four miles of roads with the funding available. Because of budget constraints, the city hasn't paved any streets since 2004. Huntington voters defeated an excess levy in 2006 that would have provided $3 million for paving.
"The cost of asphalt is really high right now, but we're getting a pretty good bang for our dollar," Holley said.
A road's condition and the last time it was paved weren't the only two factors that went into the selection process, Holley said. Roads that are in residential areas, are affecting property values or near another city-sponsored project received a higher priority, he said.
"We went out into the field and looked at all of these roads to put the human element into it," Holley said.
Spreading the paving out so that every council district benefits also played a role, he said. Several council members who have reviewed the list of streets that will be resurfaced don't have any objections, he said.
