Conshocken Hopes to Avoid Headaches over Fayette Street Repaving

Conshohocken Borough is hoping to avoid a situation that would spell double trouble for a repaving of Fayette Street in the next six months.

According to discussions at April's council meeting, PennDOT has notified the borough that it will be repaving the roadway, which is owned by the state, by October. However, PECO also has plans to install utilities along Fayette Street, and officials are concerned that they won't do so before PennDOT finishes their repaving, causing the same work to be done twice.

Borough officials said that similar situations have occurred in the past and that coordination efforts this time around have largely gone unanswered.

"It's in PennDOT's hands to work nicely with PECO, so I've requested some information from [contractor Allan A. Myers, LP] and I haven't received anything back yet," said borough solicitor Mike Savona.

Savona added that he had contacted the office of state representative Mike Gerber to try and shake loose a response from PennDOT and its contractor.

Council President Paul McConnell asked Savona whether the borough had any power to deny PECO the ability to install utilities.

"Unfortunately you can't, because Fayette Street is not your street," said Savona.

However, Savona said the township could set stricter specifications for the quality of the work, including requiring the contractor to pave a further distance in order to avoid unwanted grooves and patches. Council asked borough staff to draft such changes for consideration at an upcoming meeting.

Eugene DeSantis, a resident of Maple Street, also used the opportunity to raise safety concerns about the roadway. DeSantis said that the lines of sight when attempting to turn onto the roadway from an avenue are often very poor, and that many of the corners have developed deep grooves that could present a danger to cars.

"There should be a sign that says 'no parking to corner,' so at least you can see when you're making your turn," DeSantis said.

Borough engineer Paul Hughes said that while he hoped that PennDOT's repaving would take care of the corners, he had concerns as well.

"PennDOT will be doing handicap ramps on all those corners," said Hughes. "The catch is, they're going to pave the street first, and then come back and do the ramps later, which as you can all guess is backwards."

Regarding the lines of sight, Hughes said that it was ultimately an issue for PennDOT since it owns the roadway, but that any efforts to increase lines of sight by moving vehicles away from the corner would decrease parking.

"If we look at all the intersections, there will be deficient sight distance and we will lose a lot of parking," Hughes said, adding that there could be a loss of as much as eight spaces per intersection.