Brentwood streetscape project to begin this year

Brentwood leaders are working to spruce up the borough’s central business district, located at the heart of Brownsville Road.

A streetscape improvement project is set to take place this year along the central portion of Brownsville Road in the borough. It will include removal of trees that are tearing up the sidewalk, repairs to the sidewalks, adding a decorative crosswalk that’s stamped out to look like brick and a bump-out on the street near Keener Hardware to help with traffic flow, according to borough manager George Zboyovsky.

“We’re really trying to get this area ready for development,” he said.

The central business district runs from Park Drive to Hillman Street on Brownsville Road.

The borough’s new municipal building, set to open later this year, is a part of the central business district. It also includes the old municipal building that borough leaders are seeking developers to transform the space into a mixed-use facility, with retail on the first floor and market rate apartments above.

The borough received a $155,855 Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority grant from their Multimodal Transportation Fund grant in 2017 for the project.

The total streetscape project will cost $270,000. The borough will pay about $115,000 towards the project.

Zboyovsky credited Mayor Dennis Troy with pursuing the funds.

“Initially we were looking at the central business district and we wanted to bury the street lines and remove the metered parking and add kiosks,” he said.

That initial goal proved to be too expensive. Although, Zboyovsky said the borough still is considering repainting decorative lamps and removing parking meters to replace them with kiosks in the area. Those projects are not included in the grant or estimated total.

Decorative lamp posts also will get a new coat of paint with the project.

The project will likely go out for bid in April, with construction starting this summer.

The business district near Giant Eagle already has curb appeal, Zboyovsky said. This will add that same appeal to the central business district.

“After this, we’ll move down to the Carrick end,” Zboyovsky said.

In a separate action in February, Brentwood council members also agreed to purchase an additional 28 Christmas decorations to be hung on Brownsville Road during the holidays. They also approved two “skyline” decorations that will hang across the main thoroughfare at both ends of the municipality during the holidays.

Borough leaders in the last few years have been working to upgrade the decorations that hang along Brownsville Road to light up the municipality for the holiday season.