Penn Hills to spend more than $1 million on paving, largely through state grants
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Penn Hills plans to spend about $1.2 million to pave 14 streets this year.
Council recently awarded its paving program to Oakmont-based A. Folino Construction.
Municipal manager Scott Andrejchak said the company was the lowest of three bidders.
“Folino has completed similar work in Penn Hills previously, and the municipality was very pleased with the price and the product,” Andrejchak said.
Mayor Pauline Calabrese said public works officials and administration coordinate each year to find out what roads need work.
Some of the determining factors include how much traffic is on the road, when it was last paved and how many residents are impacted.
“We are very proud of this schedule,” Calabrese said. “Much of (the repair work) is done through grants. Any time you improve your community, that improves home values.”
Streets to be paved include:
• Edinburg Drive from McKenzie to MacBeth drives
• Laurie Drive from Frey to Jefferson roads
• Deerwood Drive from Woodstone Drive to its end
• Woodstone Drive from Universal to Cypress Hill roads
• Windsor Drive from Lougeay Road to its end
• McCurdy Drive from Sycamore Drive to its end
• Wisteria Drive from Sycamore Drive to its end
• Dewayne Drive from Hallwood Drive to Seton Road
• Betty Jane Court from Wilson Drive to its end
• Wilson Drive from Frankstown Road to Betty Jane Court
• Paris Road from Long to Highland roads
• Lee Drive from Dorothy to Hillside drives
• Hillside Drive from Lee to Lee drives
Penn Hills received a $2.5 million Multimodal Transportation Fund grant in 2020 to improve segments of 31 streets in need of repair.
Improvements included making Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant cutouts and sidewalks, road repaving and making streets more accessible for pedestrians, bicycles and public transportation vehicles.
MTF provides grants to encourage economic development and ensure that a safe and reliable system of transportation is available to the residents of the commonwealth.
Andrejchak said they are in the first year of a three-year process to spend that money, and it will cover 80% of this year’s paving project.
The borough must cover a 20% match for the grant.
Andrejchak said infrastructure grants are highly competitive.
“Our jobs are to seek money from other agencies to make Penn Hills better,” Andrejchak said. “Gone are the days where they just hand you money. There’s always going to be application processes. A lot of the agencies want to have public hearings and talk about these things.
“A lot of the requirements are sometimes a way to sift out applicants who have not done their due diligence. We’ve been pretty successful in getting applications out on things that people care about. Infrastructure’s a really big one.”
Grant fund efforts were supported by state Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa Jr. and state Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills.
Additional grant
Paving is not the only infrastructure project Penn Hills plans to complete through grants.
Council in April approved applying for a $1 million federal appropriations grant to improve Rodi Road.
Proposed work includes sidewalk improvements, landscaping and signage.
The grant comes with a 20% municipal match.
It is unclear when it may be awarded.