Oakmont officials approve paving, line painting contracts

Oakmont officials tapped a Valencia-based company to cover this year’s paving program.

Council unanimously voted to award a nearly $302,000 contract to Shields Asphalt Paving.

Borough manager Scot Fodi said he is familiar with the company from when he worked at Middlesex and Pine townships. Shields was the lowest of eight bidders.

“They are a competent company that can do the job,” Fodi said.

Borough officials budgeted about $350,000 for the infrastructure upgrades.

Streets to be improved include:

• Virginia Avenue from 12th Street to the cul-de-sac.

• Woodland Avenue from the paving seam east of Wade Lane to the cul-de-sac.

• Fairways Drive from Oak Street to Pinehurst Lane.

• Eighth Street from Hulton Road to Virginia Avenue.

• Dogwood Way from Pennsylvania Avenue to Virginia Avenue.

• Washington Avenue from Allegheny Avenue to Third Street.

• Willows Drive from Washington to California avenues.

• High Street from Washington Avenue to the dead end.

• Virginia Avenue from Sixth Street to the dead end.

• First Street from Delaware Avenue to the dead end.

• The boat ramp at the Allegheny River.

Roads are evaluated annually with the assistance of Senate Engineering, public works crews and borough officials. The borough created a five-year road program in 2018.

Council also unanimously awarded an estimated $37,300 contract to Bethel Park-based Parking Lot Paving Co. to do line striping along Allegheny River Boulevard from Library Place to Washington Avenue.

Fodi said they were the sole bidder. Both projects came in under budget and are expected to begin within the next two months.

The line striping is a pedestrian safety project inspired by a traffic study and a borough Girl Scout.

Its goal is to improve crosswalks. The crosswalks are expected to look like piano keys and be uniform on the main streets and mid-block intersections.

The traffic study by Wooster and Associates of Pittsburgh was released last year. It included an analysis of traffic along Allegheny Avenue, Third Street and Cedar Way from Hulton Road to College Avenue.

The study showed several intersections were dangerous for walkers.

Wooster and Associates officials said most of the study data, such as how many cars travel throughout the borough, would likely be different now due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Resident Audrey Myers, a Riverview High School student, examined about 120 intersections this past spring and noted the quality of the crosswalks and whether there were sidewalk ramps. Audrey also took photos of all of the intersections.

Officials put her data into an interactive dashboard for Oakmont’s geographic information systems.

According to Audrey’s report, 53 of the intersections examined had crosswalks while 61 only had sidewalk ramps.

Out of those crosswalks, seven were listed in good condition, 20 in fair condition, 21 were poor and three earned mixed reviews.

Myers is a member of Girl Scout Troop 52359 in Oakmont and Boy Scout Troop 9143 in Monroeville.