City considers paving Third St.
A survey distributed to 41 houses on 3rd Street in Butler asked the residents if they would prefer to keep the brick that currently makes up the road, or if they would rather have it paved. Of the 16 responses returned, 10 people said they would prefer the road be pavement instead of brick.
Mayor Bob Dandoy said at the council forum meeting April 7 that Pennsylvania American Water will soon begin a repair project on pipe under the brick road, which will have to be torn up and then redone following its completion.
While he acknowledged that many people enjoy the appearance and character of brick roads, they can be damaging to cars and a nuisance to drivers and passengers when they fall into bad shape over time and hazardous during winter conditions.
John Evans, Butler’s building code official, said Pennsylvania American has offered to reconstruct the road on its own, which presents a good opportunity for the city to have the road paved at no charge to taxpayers.
“PA American Water has to come in and rip up and fix it,” Dandoy said. “The question was when we put this back together, how do you want it put back together.”
Evans said the city has done its best to repair brick roads within its jurisdiction over the years. However, repairs become more difficult over time, because bricks sustain more individual damage from traffic and even more from construction and reconstruction projects.
“Every time you take that brick up, you lose 25 percent of them because they are broken,” Evans said. “Then you try to match them up and you try to get them installed to look like they have never been taken out, and it’s very difficult to get it done and have it done to an acceptable level.”
Evans also asked Pennsylvania American to fix portions of Fulton Street from Cedar Street to Franklin Street which have been damaged over time.
