Kittanning Told to Decide Between Fixing Streets or Fixing Drainage
Senate Engineering told Kittanning Borough that the street is too flat and that is what is causing drainage problems like this on South Jefferson. Councilman David Croyle disagreed.
by Jonathan Weaver
Motorists and pedestrians who often have to wade through puddles of water along some Kittanning streets may have to keep drying their shoes for the foreseeable future.
Senate Engineering officials continued discussion with Kittanning Borough Council elected representatives last night regarding drainage issues on streets surrounding Market Street.
Engineer Mike Malak said he was most-concerned with the budget to allow for all necessary drainage since it may take from budgeted funds for milling and paving operations.
Phase III of the Downtown Kittanning Revitalization Project will include road repavement, including necessary sections of Arch, Jacob, McKean, Jefferson and Grant Streets. Preliminary estimates indicate that paving could commence after the Fort Armstrong Folk Festival, but might not begin until Spring 2017.
“Is it really going to help solve the issue? Because it’s so flat,” Malak said. “We always get the comment ‘Well, we want to do it right.’ To do it right, you’d have to do the same thing you did to Market Street.
“You have streets at one elevation and curbs and sidewalks that are all over the place, and to really try and establish something there wouldn’t work without doing it like we did on Market.
“We do feel that repaving the streets will help. Putting that new pavement on will help eliminate a lot of the ponding.”
Project Manager Sally Conklin also thought grading curbs and sidewalks would not be “feasible,” since changing the scope of work would probably lengthen the amount of time before the work is approved – potentially delaying it another year.
Bill Braun of Senate Engineering said the work might also lead to crews needing to relocate utilities.
Councilman David Croyle disagreed with the engineers’ opinion.
“I think (Senate Engineering) can come up with other solutions – I’m looking for other solutions from them,” Croyle said. “It’s very, very flat in Illinois, but they don’t seem to have a problem with water runoff. So, if they can do it in Illinois, we can do it in Pennsylvania when we have hills.”
Councilwoman Betsy Wilt reiterated the safety issue to motorists and pedestrians
Street Supervisor Jim Mechling said changing the elevation of Jacob Street could eliminate the ponding problem on South Jefferson Street
Malak proposed taking elevation photographs along the street to better see what is causing the problems at the respective intersections.
Street cleaning should begin next month.
In other news, Solicitor Ty Heller told council members that interim financing for Phase II and III of the revitalization project has been approved.
Heller reiterated that he is hopeful Borough Council will not have to borrow all of the approved amount and reimbursement begins from the State as soon as possible.
Kittanning Borough | jweaver March 8, 2016
By ktown_kid, March 8, 2016 @ 8:28 AM
I sure hope the Boro didn’t have to pay for that college educated advice from the engineers. Hmm let’s see what could be causing the wish well by bugsys……could it be that Jacob street was paved 3 to 4 inches higher at the intersection than the rest of jefferson. It’s like anything else that gets done in this town. It’s half assed!! Half of the concrete on market it already cracking everytime we get a new Street paved, the utility companies cut it up within weeks because nobody is smart enough to check with their maintenance schedules.
By Nivasi, March 8, 2016 @ 2:39 PM
People seem to forget that there were at one time tracks that ran along the downtown streets, all they have to do is look up on some of the buildings to see the old power lines that assisted the trolley. I think for the most part, when the rails were removed, the streets were not correctly filled before black-topping. (ie: Market street) The main road aka Market street is a STATE road, the state should take care of it; not the borough.