Morganton puts North Green Street revamp on hold amid bidding issues

The City of Morganton has shelved its North Green Street Streetscape Project after repeated bidding attempts yielded only one contractor, a setback that means the city will forfeit over $2 million in grant funding.

City staff put the project out for bid twice in December 2025, but only received one bid each time, both from T.P. Howard’s Plumbing Co. The bid came in about $2 million over budget.

Due to the two failed bidding attempts and a shrinking timeline to use grant funding, council voted Monday evening to reject the bid.

The project would have provided a makeover to North Green Street from the East Union Street intersection to Fleming Place. Elements of the project included upgrades to dated water and sewer lines, underground placement of cable and electric, installation of mast arm traffic lights, and other pedestrian-friendly improvements.

The city will lose the $2.1 million from the Rural Transformation Grant Fund, Rural Downtown Economic Development Grant, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. The funding was going to be used to offset the projected project cost of $3.8 million, but grants required construction to be completed by the end of 2026.

City staff considered changing the scope of the project to be in-budget, but it wasn’t a feasible solution because if the city changes more than 10% of the project, the project would have to go back to square one in the design phase.

“Maybe if we weren’t dealing with everything from Hurricane Helene, maybe we move some things around, reprioritize, we try to make this work, or do some value engineering, see what we can do. There’s just no way possible for this to occur at this time,” City Manager Sally Sandy said.

The North Green Street Streetscape project isn’t gone forever. It will be revisited in the future when the city has more funding available and can prioritize the project. Though the city will lose the grant funding, staff will continue to seek additional funding from the state in the future, Sandy said.

“It’s not like us to give up, but at this point, I think the wisest thing, and what we owe to the taxpayers, is to not move forward,” Sandy said.

The project is complex and difficult to bid because there aren’t many companies that do streetscape projects for various reasons, Assistant City Manager Rob Winkler said.

Streetscape projects require utility work underground in downtown areas, which are often the older parts of communities, and pose a lot of unknowns as the infrastructure underground is aging.

Contractors also have to manage requirements for the North Carolina Department of Transportation and mitigate traffic impacts and inconveniences to nearby businesses.

“There’s just so many elements to this that a lot of contractors do not want to get into because when you go to bid it, the unknowns can sometimes be scary and contractors don’t want to bear that burden,” Winkler said.

Limited contractors available for streetscape work was exacerbated by another issue. Western North Carolina is still experiencing a heightened volume of construction needs in the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene. Many contractors in the region have a full plate, Winkler said.

City staff have had to shift priorities to multiple parks and infrastructure projects that are vital for the community to become more resilient more than a year after the storm. The city has a great plan for the streetscape project, so staff will be able to jump back in when the time is right, Winkler said.

“We think this is a very good, solid project that will extend the beauty of our downtown,” Winkler said. “I feel pretty good about it happening in the future. I think right now, as much as it was a financial thing, it was also a timing thing as well.”