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City Council OK’s $1M Paving Contracts
Program will touch most neighborhoods; Versailles Ave. bridge to remain closed
By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
March 08, 2022
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport City Council has awarded contracts totalling more than $1 million for an extensive street paving program this spring and summer.
At Wednesday’s meeting, council voted 6-0 to award two contracts to El Grande Industries of Donora, Washington County. El Grande was the lowest of three bids, city officials said. Council Vice President Lu Ethel Nesbit was absent.
Mayor Michael Cherepko said the paving project will complete repaving on Versailles Avenue — with the exception of the viaduct over Ravine Street — and also will include portions of Ohio, Pirl, Evans, Bailie, Jenny Lind, Grandview and Fawcett streets.
Other streets scheduled for repair and repaving include Duquesne Avenue in Myer Park, Beech Street between Grant and Bailie avenues, Freeland Street between Pirl and Ohio avenues, Maplewood Street in Peterson Plan, Jimmy Beaumont Boulevard, and a portion of Beckman Drive in Haler Heights.
Parts of McIntosh, Riverview, Dunn, Wesley and Barnesdale streets also will be paved, along with Roy Street, Cherepko said.
A portion of Fifth Avenue between the McKees Point Marina and Locust Street also will be repaved — but not the block between Sheridan Way and Sinclair Street, where several buildings are scheduled for demolition.
In some cases El Grande will both remove the old pavement — a process called milling — and lay new pavement, Cherepko said. In other cases, El Grande will only do the milling, and city public works crews will do the paving.
McKeesport lost its street paving machine in a Feb. 6 fire at the city’s public works garage but has been able to secure a replacement, the mayor said.
As for the Versailles Avenue viaduct, which was closed Feb. 11, there is no timetable yet for replacement, Cherepko told council.
“We have engineers working to come up with a more detailed estimated of the cost,” Cherepko said. “We have several different options as far as funding. We are pretty optimistic that we will be able to obtain funding either on the state or federal level.”
Ravine Street beneath the bridge was closed for four days while crews installed netting under the viaduct to catch any loose concrete. Cherepko said the engineers with whom the city has consulted are “comfortable with the bridge being closed but the road being open.”
Both cars and pedestrians have been warned not to use the bridge, he said.
Jason Togyer is volunteer executive director and editor of Tube City Almanac.
Originally published March 08, 2022.
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