City of Huntington to receive $608,000 for paving from antitrust settlement
HUNTINGTON – The City of Huntington will receive $608,350.13 that will be used for paving projects next spring as a result of an antitrust settlement between 11 asphalt and paving companies and the West Virginia Department of Transportation and six local governments.
According to the settlement, announced by state officials on Friday, Oct. 30, West Virginia Paving Inc., Kelly Paving Inc., American Asphalt & Aggregate Inc. and eight related companies agreed to settle claims brought against them by the state Department of Transportation and the local governments of Beckley, Bluefield, Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg and Kanawha County.
The agreement includes $101.35 million worth of cash and credits, along with a mix of non-monetary terms to restore competition among paving companies. The settlement requires West Virginia Paving, Kelly Paving and American Asphalt to make a combined, upfront payment of $30.35 million to the state and local participants. That includes a combined share of $4.4 million for Beckley, Bluefield, Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg and Kanawha County.
The $608,350.13 in settlement money to the City of Huntington will be added to the estimated $600,000 that will remain for paving in spring 2021 when paving this fall is completed.
Paving usually occurs in the spring and fall in Huntington. This past spring, however, more than $1 million in paving was delayed in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Work on that paving list began in September, and officials with West Virginia Paving notified city officials recently that they were almost completed and would soon begin on the fall round of paving
The paving list from this past spring included 31 individual paving projects spread across City Council’s nine geographic districts and totaling 5.3 miles at an estimated cost of $1,050,468. The fall list that will soon begin and includes 46 individual paving projects totaling 6.39 miles at an estimated cost of $1,300,284. That brings the total spending for paving this fall to $2,350,752 and a total of 77 projects totaling 11.69 miles.
After fall paving is completed, the City of Huntington will have paved 48 miles of roads totaling $13,666,255 since 2014.