Morehead officials give update on Main Street construction and other projects

Officials with the Morehead Utility Plant Board announced an expected completion date for downtown road work at the regular meeting of Morehead City Council on Monday. Work to replace water mains and repair storm drainage along Main Street has been ongoing this summer.

Holly McGrath-Rosas is the General Manager of the Morehead Utility Plant Board (MUPB). She said MUPB ran into unpredictable complications during construction.

“Last month, I said we should have everything paved within three to four weeks, pending no issues. Well, we had issues. We had weather, unforeseen, we can’t do anything in the rain and we also had numerous storm water issues that needed immediate attention that we wanted to fix while everything was open. If we waited and paved and then went back and tore everything up, that wouldn’t have been good,” said McGrath-Rosas.

Recent repairs included reconstruction of four collapsed 18-inch storm drains and restoration of multiple catch basins. Officials anticipate if weather permits and no unexpected delays occur, MUPB will finish construction and paving on Main Street, along with North Wilson Avenue and South Wilson Avenue, by September 22.

McGrath-Rosas said along with the roadways, Morehead’s water treatment plant project has also made significant progress.

“We’re currently reviewing the sewer use ordinance to update local limits, which is what we have to do every five years through the industrial pretreatment program, which is federally mandated. Also, we’re updating some language for enforcement and pets, oil and grease. We passed the second quarter biomonitoring, and we started the third quarter biomonitoring,” said McGrath-Rosas.

Officials said the repairs and water treatment projects aim to address and improve the water quality across the city of Morehead.