A $148,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development will help pay for a $400,000 project in New Kensington and Lower Burrell to replace three old waterlines that often break.
The Municipal Authority of New Kensington was awarded the state grant to replace:
• 1,300 feet of water main on Hill Street in Lower Burrell
• about 1,000 feet of water main in the 1300 block of Strawn Avenue in New Kensington
• about 1,150 feet of line on Boundary Way, between Forest and Martin avenues, in New Kensington
Authority manager Jim Matta said the project next spring will require work crews to dig up those roads for the line replacements. There will be temporary and intermittent road closures, he said, but it will be a “temporary inconvenience for residents to have a longtime improvement.”
Because of the aging waterlines, residents have been inconvenienced with closures and service interruptions, while authority work crews have been called out to many waterline breaks over the years, he added.
New Kensington and Lower Burrell officials were happy to hear about the project.
“Boundary Way is a steep road, and anything the water authority can do to prevent continued line breakage and water getting onto the street would be beneficial,” said Dennis Scarpiniti, New Kensington city clerk.
“With these older sections of line, we look forward to the repairs,” he said. “Kudos to the water authority for getting the grants.”
Todd Giammatteo, public works director for Lower Burrell, said there have been quite a few breaks on Hill Street over the years.
“Any type of infrastructure update that any utility can do is beneficial, because they are not tearing up the roads a number of times to fix the breaks and then patching them,” he said.
