Borough council approves overweight truck ordinance
Center Avenue in Burgettstown is crumbling from overweight trucks. Council has voted to grant $350 permits to overweight trucks to help pay for the repair of the road.
Center Avenue in Burgettstown is crumbling from overweight trucks. Council has voted to grant $350 permits to overweight trucks to help pay for the repair of the road.
Truck drivers who traverse a damaged stretch of Center Avenue in Burgettstown will have to purchase a permit or pay a fine if the weight of their vehicle and load exceeds six tons.
Beginning May 11, an ordinance approved by borough council allows overweight trucks to use the crumbling section of street, which spans the intersection of Bridge Street and an unnamed alley past Studa Street, by paying a $350 annual fee and signing an excess maintenance agreement.
McDonald Police Department, contracted with the borough, will issue fines and monitor the road, which connects Joffre and Bulger to Burgettstown.
The area in question is used by heavy industrial traffic from a nearby coal strip mine and Marcellus Shale drilling.
Permit fees will be used to pay for the maintenance of that roadway.
While council members and Mayor Anna Marie Quader agree the road is in dire need of repair, they disagree on the ordinance.
Quader’s veto of the mandate was overturned by the five-member council in a special meeting April 22. Even though Quader didn’t sign the ordinance, under borough code, a majority of the board plus one can override a veto.
“They are not getting anything except the right to cross on a road that’s broken,” Quader said of drivers who pay for a permit.
Quader said she is not opposed to issuing the permits – once the road has been repaired.
“There are other reasons besides trucks,” she said of the cause of damage.
In June 2014, a road limit determination study was performed by T3 Global Strategies, Bridgeville.
The pavement analysis indicated heavy traffic loads are partially to blame. Other possible causes of the deterioration include poor drainage, poor construction methods and insufficient bonding between road layers.
“Clearly, this portion of Center Avenue was not designed to support the traffic currently being experienced,” stated T3 engineer Keith Straight in the report. “Center Avenue’s pavement has been weakened due to deterioration, high traffic volumes and climatic conditions.”
Upon completion of the study, the borough implemented the six-ton weight restriction, but didn’t implement fines.
According to Phoebe Suica, council vice president, Center Avenue was a state road that was transferred to the borough several years ago. In her study of borough archives, Suica found old photos of the road.
“It was a dirt path that can’t handle the kind of weight trucks have now,” she said.
Council President James Reedy, who is also head of the borough’s road department, said it is frequently patched, but the 900-foot problem section that runs parallel to Raccoon Creek requires a complete overhaul.
“It has turned into a nightmare. We’re doing the best we can,” he said.
“Lowering the weight limit is going to cut down on the amount of heavy trucks and buy us time.”
A complete repair of the road would involve constructing a new base, four-to-five inches of binder and paving, he said.
“We don’t have the money to do that right now,” Reedy said. “We survive off of nickels and dimes … maybe even pennies.”
A plan by Pennsylvania American Water, however, may help alleviate some of the burden.
According to Gary Lobaugh, external affairs manager of the utility company, 2,050 feet of water main along Center Avenue will be replaced, with work to begin mid-June or early July.
Upon completion of the $525,000 project, Pennsylvania American water will backfill the trenches with binder, mill the road and overlay with asphalt, stated Lobaugh in an email.
“It will definitely help,” Reedy said.