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City engineer outlines concept to pave roughly 10 miles of Newport gravel roads
Summary
City Engineer Chris Beatty presented a concept plan and preliminary cost estimate to the Newport City Council for paving the city's roughly 10.7 miles of gravel roads, discussed funding options including urban renewal and local improvement districts, and planned near-term paving projects funded in the adopted budget.
Chris Beatty, Newport’s city engineer, presented a conceptual plan to the City Council on Feb. 18 for paving the city's roughly 10.7 miles of gravel streets and asked the council for a consensus to move to implementation planning. “We do have about 10 plus miles of gravel roads here in Newport,” Beatty said.
Beatty provided a preliminary cost framework: an estimated cost of about $10 per square foot (approximately $210 per linear foot for a 20-foot-wide roadway) and noted that, by his estimate, “the $1,100,000 would pave 1 mile of 20 foot wide roadway.” He said the concept assumes 3 inches of pavement over 3–6 inches of rock for leveling, but explicitly excludes storm-drainage improvements or curbs, which could be required for particular streets and would raise costs.
Council and staff discussed funding and delivery options. Beatty listed potential funding sources including urban renewal funds, cost-sharing with private developments and formation of local improvement districts (LIDs); staff said some paving is already included in the current adopted budget and will provide actual contract costs to refine estimates. The presentation named three projects funded in the current budget cycle: 50th Street improvements, Haggard Beach, and resurfacing pockets near the high school; staff said those adopted projects total $1,250,000.
Council members raised delivery and scheduling questions: whether projects would be bundled to lower mobilization costs, how many miles could be completed in a single construction season, contractor availability and the effect of paving on driver behavior and speed. Beatty said the city plans to bundle work where possible and prepare bid-ready designs early in the calendar year to improve contractor scheduling and competition.
The council also discussed repurposing the existing dust-abatement allocation (estimated by staff at about $65,000 per year) toward paving. Staff said they expect public involvement will be part of the prioritization process but noted that some projects were already identified as priorities during the 2022 Transportation System Plan update.
Beatty asked the council for consensus to proceed with the concept and to return with refined, year-by-year cost estimates and a prioritized list of streets for implementation; council discussion indicated general support for moving forward to the next planning stage.
