One of the Worst Streets in Schuylkill County is Getting Paved

Borough Council members in Saint Clair voted Tuesday evening to pave Ann St. You likely have driven on it but you may not have known its name.

It may be one of the worst stretches of roadway in all of Schuylkill County. They’re not just potholes, they’re craters on that street. In some areas, the macadam is completely removed, revealing a crumbling concrete bed beneath it.

And this isn’t just some random side street in Schuylkill County. It’s a rather busy stretch of road that extends from Route 61 up to the back entrance of Fairlane Village Mall. There are several bustling businesses along this short path, too.

But by the end of June, Borough officials in Saint Clair expect this stretch of Ann St. to be paved. They unanimously approved a low bid submitted by Construction Masters Services LLC, of Wyomissing, at their regular meeting Tuesday. Saint Clair will pay the Berks County firm $64,879 to complete the work.

The money for this project will come from the Borough’s General Fund. This portion of the Ann Street resurfacing will not include work on the crosswalks on each end of the workspace. That will have to come later and at a much greater expense, according to Saint Clair’s engineer, Brian Baldwin.

Resurfacing Ann St. this year will likely only take a couple days. Saint Clair is hoping the contractor it hired can do much of the work at night to avoid disruption to the businesses along the street. Baldwin said milling and paving won’t take more than a day and the most time-consuming part of the job could be line painting.

On Tuesday, Borough officials received correspondence from Shannon Brennan, who represented Peace Frog Natural and Trio Salon & Spa, asking that flaggers be included in the project specs so those businesses would not have to close completely while the work is completed.

Traffic control on Ann St. was included in the approved bid so while the paving work may cause some disruptions, no businesses will have to close completely for any day the resurfacing project is being done.

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