Butler streetscape project coming to a close
Main Street in Butler is getting a slight face-lift.
The city streetscape project added new traffic signals and a new controller system to the street, took out and planted new trees and soon will add new trash bins to the sidewalks.
The $2.4 million cost of the traffic signal replacement, the most expensive aspect of the nearly $3 million project, cost the city only $22,000. The rest was covered by the state Department of Transportation.
“The city will own all the signals and just be responsible for maintenance,” said Butler building code official John Evans. “They are essentially replacing our lights for us.”
According to Evans, the city received a state grant for $279,336 for the rest of the streetscape project, for which the city is contributing $116,673.
The tree replacement took out old trees, and added ones that are native to the region.
The tree sites will also be filled in with special pavement from the Pottstown-based perkEpave, which will help funnel rainwater to the soil and the trees’ roots, according to Evans.
“They put it on top (of the soil) so that all the rain will funnel into the tree,” Evans said. “It's really coarse, so the water can percolate to the trees.”
The final leg of the streetscape project will remove the old traffic control machines from the streets and sidewalks, which include control boxes and crosswalk buttons. Evans said the large black boxes recently placed on sidewalks at a few intersections are the new control boxes for the traffic signals.
“Based on the wiring and conduit, they had to put it close to where the old boxes were,” Evans said of the new boxes. “They house the GPS equipment, controllers, emergency wiring, all the devices that control traffic.”
