A project that started last year on Center Road in Monroeville will last for another month.
Jim Hunter, general manager of the Monroeville Municipal Authority, said the road is expected to be paved the first or second week of August, depending on the weather.
The $850,000 project started last summer when MMA crews repaired an 8-inch sewer line along the 500 block of Center Road. The repairs were done to lines that were not under the roadway, Hunter said.
The rest of the pipe, along with an 8-inch water line, is directly under the roadway.
“We had no manpower for that,” he said. “So we put it out for bid and hired (J.S. Bova Excavating).”
Bova crews have repaired both lines and placed “cold patch” over the work, which Hunter said is a temporary asphalt until the Allegheny County Engineering Department paves over that in August. He said he expects Bova to be done with the repairs by July 31.
“Some sections were not very good,” Hunter said of the cold patch work. “What happens is rain gets in and pushes it up. And it’s been a rainy year.”
Sections of the road have been restricted to one lane as crews work on repairing the lines. Crews are allowed to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. by Monroeville ordinance, Hunter said.
He said he understands the frustration of traffic delays on that road, as it serves as a main thoroughfare connecting Monroeville to Plum.
“The volume on that road is extensive,” Hunter said, estimating there are around 19,000 vehicles that travel the road daily. “And there are a lot of (semi-truck) trailers – so we couldn’t detour them through neighborhoods.”
