Point Marion to ask Greene commissioners to help with bride lighting costs
POINT MARION – Borough council agreed Tuesday to send a letter to the Greene County Commissioners, asking that the county help pay a portion of the cost to light a new bridge that will connect Fayette and Greene counties. The Point Marion Bridge Replacement Project is being headed by the state Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration. Plans call for the current bridge, a cantilevered-truss structure bridge that currently spans the Monongahela River and connects the borough to Dunkard Township, to be replaced with a through truss bridge.
The state is paying to have the bridge replaced, and PennDOT will buy and install the lights for the bridge, if a local municipality agrees to pay the electric bill and future maintenance costs associated with the lights, according to borough manager Art Strimel.
Strimel said Dunkard Township officials have already said they will not pay to have the bridge lit, which means Point Marion would have to pay the entire cost.
Council said they believe the bridge should be lit and expressed disappointment with Dunkard Township leaders who have allegedly refused to pay a portion of future costs.
By sending a letter to the Greene County Commissioners, council said they hope something can be worked out.
Council President Ted Shaffer said he discussed the issue with state Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Dunbar, and said that Kasunic said the borough should be receiving a $21,000 grant.
Kasunic, according to Shaffer, said some of the grant money could be used to help pay the electric bill to light the bridge, once it is constructed.
The new bridge, according to PennDOT plans, will be approximately 43 feet wide with two lanes of travel. Each travel lane will be 11 feet wide. In addition, plans call for a third lane for bicyclists and walkers that will be 10 feet wide and separated from vehicle traffic by a barrier.
Construction of the $18 million bridge replacement project is expected to begin in the spring of 2008, according to PennDOT officials. The old bridge will be torn down after the new one is built and ready for use.
In unrelated business, council heard from residents concerned with large trucks speeding in the borough, specifically in the area of Main and Penn streets.
Mayor Bob Wolfe said he and the police department is aware of the situation and that citations will be wrote to anyone caught speeding.
The speed limit through downtown is set at 25 miles per hour.
As for other matters, council agreed to send a letter to state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, in regards to plans for grant money DeWeese allegedly set aside for the borough.
Council member Joe Murphy said DeWeese said a $25,000 Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) grant is available.
Murphy said DeWeese wanted to know what the borough planned to do with the money before warding the borough the grant.
If awarded the grant, council voted to use $15,000 of the grant as matching money for a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCBR) grant to fix the interior of the field house at the borough park and $10,000 of the money to improve the borough’s water distribution system.
Council authorized Strimel to send a letter to DeWeese’s office, notifying him of the borough’s plans.
The next council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. March 21 in the borough building.