Retaining wall repair in Jeannette will cost $150,000

It will cost an estimated $150,000 to fix a portion of Chestnut Street in Jeannette after part of a wall collapsed during heavy rains in late May.

City engineer Ed Antonacci said that price tag may cover the cost of lowering the wall, cutting the street in half and putting up a guide rail. That option would result in part of Chestnut Street becoming a one-way road.

“That’s just to make it safe,” Antonacci said. “That’s not to rebuild the wall.”

The 400 block has been closed since the May 30 collapse. A curb was constructed on the street to divert water away from the wall and nearby properties. The wall had been deteriorating for years. It supports Chestnut Street with homes below it and on the opposite side of the road, though most are vacant.

Antonacci said if council decides to cut the street in half, the hillside would be seeded with grass to reduce erosion. City manager Ethan Keedy said he’d start looking for grants to offset the cost.

The wall was built by the Works Progress Administration, a program created through the New Deal to put people to work in the 1930s and 1940s. Debris from it tumbled onto a property where a vacant home is slated for demolition. No one was hurt.

Others in that block are on the Westmoreland County Land Bank’s radar for demolition.

One of them has been a code issue for years and has been deemed a public nuisance, said fire Chief Bill Frye. The property, a duplex, was sold June 21 for $10,000, according to Westmoreland County deeds. The sale was between Righteous Properties LLC and Adam C. Chirico, who listed his address in the deed as the property.

The Hopewell Baptist Church is accessible from the Charles Street side of Chestnut Street. The other side of the road is accessible from Pine Street.