Powell City Council approved a $2,996,227 contract to resurface more than a dozen streets and repair shared-use paths across the city. Residents on North Liberty Street, Murphy Parkway, Zion Drive and other roads will see paving crews as work gets underway.
Council passed the ordinance with an emergency clause on Sept. 1, allowing the vote after a single reading. Mayor Heather Karr and City Clerk Elaine McCloskey signed the measure, which took effect the same day. The emergency designation cited the need to begin work during the summer construction season.
Strawser Paving Company submitted the lowest bid.
The city is funding $2.85 million from its 2026 Street Maintenance Program budget and covering the remaining $146,227 through its Shared Use Path Additions Program, the Delaware Gazette reported. The contract is the largest annual paving award in at least five years. Powell paid Strawser $2,602,227 in 2025 and $2,215,398 in 2024 for the same program, according to city ordinances.
How streets are chosen
City Engineer Aaron Stanford said a consultant rates every public street and shared-use path in a biannual pavement analysis. The city then targets the lowest-rated roads first.
"The data and information guides what we program and what we tackle first, because obviously, we can't do everything that needs to be addressed in one calendar year … But how we choose and how we select is we looked at the lowest-rated streets and address the most severe conditions," Stanford said at the Sept. 1 meeting.
Stanford said the next pavement analysis, expected later in 2026, will for the first time include all public sidewalks.
What's getting fixed
Streets slated for full resurfacing with curb replacement or full-depth repair include North Liberty Street, Murphy Parkway from Powell Road to Wagon Trail East, Zion Drive, Thornbury Lane, Wagon Trail North, Wagon Trail East, Ashmoore Court, Gradall Court, Andover Drive, Donerail Avenue, Gainsway Court and Hartfield Court. The western parking bay at City Hall is also on the list.
Stanford noted that the first segment of Murphy Parkway was resurfaced in 2025. This year's program finishes the road to Powell Road. He described the shared-use path along Powell Road near Murphy Parkway as "one of the areas we have probably received one of the top three comments about areas we need to do some work on."
Shared-use path repairs stretch across Sawmill Parkway, Powell Road from Sawmill Parkway to Traditions Way, Murphy Parkway, Zion Drive, Salisbury Drive, Library Park, Laurel Valley Drive North, Grey Oak Drive and Grandshire Drive, among other locations.
Separate spot repairs are planned for Isabella Blue Drive, Triple Crown Crossing, Friesian Drive and the main City Hall parking area. A pavement rejuvenator treatment will be applied to 15 additional streets, including West Case Avenue, Village Point Drive and Sharp Street.
What residents should expect
City Manager Andrew White told council the program was presented later than usual because of complications with engineering designs and other grant-funded projects.
Bid requirements call for a one-week written notice to affected residents before work starts, plus door hangers placed 48 hours in advance. The city also posts a two-week notice on its website.
"This program is working in people's front yards, so we have to be pretty cognizant of what's going on," Stanford said. "There's a lot of coordination we do with individual homeowners, and we do a lot of communication."
Residents can check cityofpowell.us for updates on the construction schedule.
