Vandergrift will have to wait until next year for paving money

Vandergrift got some bad news from the Westmoreland County planning department last month.

The borough was turned down in its bid to acquire funds to pave 12 streets this summer.

Instead, Vandergrift will have to reapply for funding through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program next year. The funding is administered through county planning.

Forgoing paving on more than a dozen sections of 14 roads is a hardship, according to borough Councilwoman Christine Christine Wilson.

“These roads are rough — patch on top of patch,” she said.

The borough will continue to apply cold patch and continue to fix the roads as best they can, she said.

“Some years, we don’t get funding and that is how it goes,” said Wilson, a longtime councilwoman.

“Then, you reapply for the next year and, sometimes, there’s money left over,” she added.

Janet Thomas, deputy director of the Community Development Division of Westmoreland County, said Vandergrift didn’t receive the funding this year because it was awarded a large CDBG grant in 2018.

Vandergrift received a $284,700 CDBG grant for roadwork, which was greater than a rough estimate of the county’s three-year allocation to the borough at $194,000, according to Thomas.

“There are different variables that determine funding,” Thomas said.

She said the borough needs to apply in September for paving funds for next year.

Here are the streets that borough officials hope to pave in 2020:

• Franklin Avenue from St. Gertrude Church to First Street

• First Street from Route 56 to Sherman Avenue

• Sherman Avenue from Franklin to Hamilton Avenue

• Grant Avenue from Columbia Avenue to concrete seam at Washington Avenue

• Pennsylvania Avenue from LaBellevue Road to Delaware to Indiana Avenue and from Virginia Avenue to the bend

• Center Avenue from California to Oregon Avenue

• 13th Street from Lincoln to Washington Avenue and from Custer to 13th

• Fourth Street from Sherman Avenue to 11th Street

• 11th Street from Sumner Avenue to Farragut

• Seventh Street from Sherman to Hamilton Avenue

• Fifth Street from Sherman to 11th Street

• Lafayette from Sherman to Franklin Avenue

• 29th Street from Howell to Burns

• 36th Street from Irving to 29th Street