A short term inconvenience beginning Thursday will result in a
big improvement for eight streets in the city – including Main
Street, which may be closed to traffic for two days while the
paving is under way.

Gary Alcock, director of the city’s Department of Public Works,
explained Tuesday the 2006 city street resurfacing project will
begin at 7 a.m. Thursday.

“We’re planning on starting on Northgate (Drive),” Alcock said,
“and the next street would be Linwood (Avenue).”

Northgate will be paved from Bolivar Drive to Meadowbrook Court.
Linwood will be paved from Willis to Hoffman avenues.

Alcock, who was reached after business hours, did not have a
schedule immediately available of the order in which the remaining
streets would be paved.

The other streets are Melvin Avenue from East Main Street to
Lorana Avenue, Congress Place from Congress to Chestnut streets,
Belleview Avenue from Jackson Avenue to John Street, Oakwood Avenue
from Jerome to Lincoln avenues, and Main Street.

“Main Street will be the last one,” Alcock said. “They’re
figuring on getting the little streets done in two days and
spending two days on Main Street.”

Main Street will likely be paved Monday and Tuesday of next
week. Alcock warns motorists to expect the street to be closed to
traffic and for parking during that time.

He said he has not spoken with the contractors yet about how
they are going to proceed with paving the heaviest-volume street in
the project, but says motorists should plan to take another route
on those days when Main Street will be under construction.

“It will be from Mechanic Street to Davis Street,” he said.
“We’ll be on the inside of the intersection with Davis Street, so
Davis Street will still be usable.”

Motorists using Main Street in the past few weeks may have
noticed the street is a little more “groovy” than it had been
before. That’s because the city DPW has prepared the street for
paving by milling it – removing the top layers of pavement that
made the crown of the street too high, Alcock explained.

But things will be a lot smoother come next week. After the
resurfacing project, the DPW goes back through the project areas
and does the finishing touches before repainting lines on the
streets, Alcock said.

“We go back in all the areas that were resurfaced and clean up
anything that was left behind,” he explained. The lines will likely
be done the week after that, he added.

The project is about $139,000 for 1,940 tons of Superpave – a
material mixed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and
used on municipal projects.

“It’s set up by the volume of traffic,” Alcock said. “If you
have a heavy volume street with heavy trucks, it’s a heavier
mix.”

This is the first time Superpave will be used in the city.
Alcock said PennDOT touts the mixture as more durable than regular
pavement.