Butler is investing to repair multiple city streets this summer.

City council at its meeting Thursday night approved spending more than $200,000 on street paving and nearly $50,000 on curb ramps and sidewalk improvements.

Wiest Asphalt Products and Paving will handle the street paving, while Joe Palmieri Construction was awarded the bid for sidewalk work.

“We have a list of deteriorating streets and we want to be proactive,” Councilman Richard Schontz Jr. said about the street paving.

The following streets will be repaved: Race Street from West Diamond to South Chestnut; Patterson Avenue from the brick to the city line; West Diamond Street from Chestnut to Liberty and from Liberty to South Washington; Miller Street from Snyder to Brady; Fairview Street from Gamma to Center; Spruce Street from Third to Fifth; Oak Street from East Brady to East Pearl; Freemont Avenue from Morton to Mackey Ave; Jackson from Jefferson to North.

The city also hopes to pave East Penn Street from McKean to Franklin and from Main to McKean, and Goldwood Avenue from Hansen to Sixth, funding permitting.

Wiest's bid came in about $70,000 below the anticipated cost of the paving.

Last year the city spent just over $100,000 on street paving.

Schontz said the city has increased its focus on street paving this year, made possible in part by an increase in the city's debt service tax approved last year.

Schontz said the city redevelopment authority will pave about $75,000 worth of streets this year as well through state grant funding.

Those streets include Heim Avenue from Zeigler to Marvin; Brugh Avenue from Fairview to Walker; Pleasantview Avenue from East Boyd to Stone; and East Boyd from Center to Pleasantview.

The city's paving is set to begin June 15 and is expected to be completed by July 20.

“Last year we finished our work at the beginning of October,” Schontz said.

Schontz said the city streets department also will handle smaller paving projects of side streets and alleys.

Council also approved a motion to purchase a mini-paver from Butler Township for $2,000 to assist with that work.

Schontz thanked council for stepping up to address paving needs in the city.

“I think we'll see more paving done this year than the past three years combined,” Schontz said.

The state Department of Transportation also is gearing up for road work in the city this summer.

PennDOT has already started preliminary work on the West New Castle Street bridge over Sullivan Run.

City building official John Evans said the state expects to begin the bridge replacement project within the next couple weeks.

Evans said the contractor has 100 days to finish the project once the bridge closes.

The city is paying for 5 percent of the project's $1.5 million cost. About 80 percent of its funding is through federal grants, while the rest is from PennDOT.

The bridge will close while crews work to replace it. West Cunningham Street will be used as a detour.

Next year the state will replace the West Cunningham Street bridge, Evans said.