[PRCo] McKeesport Streetcar Tracks

[Barry, Matthew R]

We were talking about finding streetcar tracks under paving last week, and then I came upon this Post Gazette article from several months ago...
McKeesport to upgrade main drag, install lights
Thursday, April 09, 2009
By Moriah Balingit, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

McKeesport's main drag will get a major face-lift this year, thanks to nearly $2 million in outside funding for paving and street amenities.

At last week's council meeting, Mayor Jim Brewster announced the city had gotten a $1 million commitment from Gov. Ed Rendell's office for paving West Fifth Avenue between the Dravosburg Bridge and the Jerome Street Bridge.

And the city is gearing up to put out bids for revamping parts of Fifth Avenue that run through the city's main business district, thanks to a $900,000 grant through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Hometown Streets program.

The funding provides an opportunity to draw people into McKeesport, Mayor Brewster said.

West 5th Avenue has been plagued with potholes and cracks, in part because the asphalt lies over old streetcar tracks, which may compromise the road's integrity. It was last paved about 10 years ago.

With this latest paving project, the tracks will be removed so that the paving job will last about five years longer, Mayor Brewster said.

"It's so universally used by people not just in McKeesport, but in the whole area," he said.

The $1 million from the governor's office came in part due to lobbying by state Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, and state Reps. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, and Bill Kortz, D-Dravosburg.

These legislators wrote a letter to the governor in which they drove home the abysmal condition of the road.

"This [four-]lane road ... is in deplorable condition and requires major resurfacing," they wrote.

They went on to call the road "severely spalled and pot-hole-laden" and a "public safety hazard."

Thanks in part to the legislators' efforts, the governor's office found funds for the project.

The other grant will help McKeesport add aesthetic improvements to its business district. The city will improve cracked sidewalks, add benches, planters, trash cans and hanging plants and purchase new lamp posts with the grant.

Also, the money will be used to purchase better signage on the street to direct motorists to city hall or to the McKees Point Marina.

The mayor hopes this will help keep businesses in town.

"The obvious reason for that is when you're trying to invite people into town and get them to move their business there," he said. "[To] keep your citizens here and keep them in town you go and do these things."

That project may be stalled while the city waits to find money for new traffic lights so the street can be made two ways, the mayor said.

The city hopes to start both projects this summer. But because they have to be approved by PennDOT, the projects may be stalled until the fall. Both, however, are expected to start before the end of this year.
Moriah Balingit can be reached at mbalingit at post-gazette.com<mailto:mbalingit at post-gazette.com> or 412-263-2533.
First published on April 9, 2009 at 6:04 am

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09099/961522-56.stm#ixzz0NEjSiEHQ