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Council Awards $775K in Street Paving Contracts
Walking trail in Renzie Park also targeted for improvements
By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
April 02, 2020
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Streets in Myer Park, Haler Heights, Grandview and Peterson Plan and areas near the hospital all will be targeted for paving in 2020 under the city’s McKeesport Rising program.
The walking trail in Renziehausen Park also will be repaved and restored.
At Wednesday’s meeting, city council by 7-0 vote awarded a $723,428.50 contract to El Grande Industries of Donora, Washington County, to mill and repave portions of Evans Avenue, Fawcett Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Hospital Way, James Street and Marshall Drive.
In addition, council awarded a $51,986 contract to El Grande to remove the old paving on part or all of Duquesne Avenue, Hillview Street, Moss Street and Myer Boulevard, as well as Shaw Avenue from Walnut to Huey, and Versailles Avenue between Pirl and Sumac.
Those streets will then be repaved by city crews, McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said.
El Grande was the lowest-responsible bidder on both jobs, city officials said.
“We’re very excited about the prices that came in,” Cherepko said. El Grande last year repaved portions of Highland Avenue, Soles Street and Union Avenue, he said.
The scope and size of repaving Marshall Drive, and the steepness of portions of Fawcett Avenue, led city officials to determine that those streets were best left to an outside company, Cherepko said.
City Administrator Tom Maglicco said additional streets will be targeted for paving later this summer, including portions of Bailie, Library and Union avenues and Jenny Lind Street.
Additional paving is also planned along Evans Avenue, Cherepko said, but the city is waiting until several vacant houses are demolished.
Walking trail contract approved
El Grande was the lowest bidder on a proposal to repair, widen and extend the Charles Lickert Memorial Fitness Trail in Renziehausen Park.
Council voted 7-0 to award a $188,675 contract to the company to extend the trail by 250 feet and restore about 6,500 feet — more than one mile — of the existing trail.
The funding will be provided by a grant from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, Cherepko said.
Parts of the trail have become overgrown with weeds and trees, the mayor said. “The trail is very heavily used, but parts of it have dwindled down to one- or two-feet wide,” Cherepko said. “This work will restore it to six feet wide.”
The city also will be making improvements to the trail to make it more accessible to people in wheelchairs, he said, and improving drainage on portions of the trail that currently become flooded.
“When the work is done, we will look into contacting the Lickert family, because I think it will be only fitting that we re-dedicate the trail,” Cherepko said.
The Jakomas Blue-Top Pavilion will be re-dedicated this year as well, he said, but the ceremony is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Jason Togyer is editor of The Tube City Almanac and volunteer executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc. He may be reached at jtogyer@gmail.com.
Originally published April 02, 2020.
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