City Of Pittsburgh Doubles Paving Budget

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Rosecrest Drive in Stanton Heights looks like the surface of the moon and Mervin Martin has the repair bills to prove it.

"I've blown two tires on the potholes on this street," he said. "That was at least $80 for each tire."

Pittsburgh Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski has gotten an ear-beating from the public.

After years of neglect, Rosecrest and streets throughout the city have become decayed and potholed, but now that the city is doubling its paving budget to $11 million, this stretch and 60 miles of other streets will get resurfaced this year.

"I think this year will be the most amount of treatment services we've done prior to 2000," he said.

The paving season has already commenced but to truly catch up with the problem, the city would have to resurface about 200 miles of streets.

To do that, the city would like to pave 100 miles this year and 100 miles next which they say could be done if the state fiscal oversight committee would release $6 million more dollars in state gaming revenue funds.

But oversight chairman Dana Yealy tells me the city is still mired in debt and the board must make "informed determination" of where those funds will be best used.

So while Kaczorowski will be paving Josephine Street on the South Side and Hastings Street in Squirrel Hill, others will have to wait.

"Obviously we have to say no to some people and put it on the list and hopefully we get to it next year," he said.

So many streets, so little money, but with some help from the oversight committee, the city believes that it could finally start to get ahead of this problem.

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