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Draining Duncansville

Council questions paving project

Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec Vehicles travel on Third Avenue in Duncansville during a downpour Friday afternoon. PennDOT plans to pave the busiest street in Duncansville next year, but the project does not include measures to address poor drainage.

DUNCANSVILLE — PennDOT’s plans to pave the busiest street in the borough in 2018 do not include measures to address poor drainage.

Because of the extensive utilities beneath Route 22, measures to improve drainage would likely cost $1 million to $2 million more than the $800,000 project being planned, PennDOT Project Manager Jaclyn Himmelwright has advised council.

“The drainage is horrible,” council member Jeanette Mills told Himmelwright and Charles Meyers of Lehman Engineers, who offered an update on the project during council’s meeting this week.

“It’s a problem,” Meyers said.

Borough engineer Tom Levine also acknowledged the condition and the lack of money to address it.

Borough residents are going to be asking why the state is paving the road without addressing the drainage problem, Mills told them.

“It’s like putting money down and then washing it away,” Mills told Meyers.

Meyers defended the need for periodic repaving even though drainage issues will remain.

“If you don’t resurface the road, it will eventually develop potholes, and that’s not a good situation either,” Meyers said.

In addition to new paving, the project also calls for a new signal light at 13th Street, related intersection improvements and ramps to accommodate the handicapped, Himmelwright said.

Council member David Shaw asked if plans call for a left turn lane on Route 22, at the 13th Street intersection, to accommodate eastbound traffic. Council member April Cramer offered support for that idea, and Himmelwright said there’s time to explore the option.

The project’s current schedule indicates that contracts are to be awarded in April. The paving is expected to be done over a two-week period, probably during evening hours when traffic is reduced. More time will be needed to address the 13th Street intersection improvements and signal light replacement.

Council President Cynthia Blontz recalled that when plans were being made for I-99, there was a prediction that its construction would reduce Route 22 traffic through Duncansville.

“I don’t believe it has,” Blontz said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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