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By MELISSA JANOSKI melissaj@leader.net
Thursday, February 03, 2000 Page: 5A
WILKES-BARRE – The extension of Coal Street, a project expected to help
downtown businesses take advantage of arena crowds and move traffic into the
heart of the city more easily, has been pushed back to 2001.
The $8 million project was expected to be built this spring. Mayor Tom
McGroarty, who has hailed the plan for two years, included the road project in
his 2000 budget unveiled in October.
But when he released the revised 2000 budget on Monday, the Coal Street
project was absent. The project’s inclusion in the budget doesn’t mean it is
being paid for with city money. The state will pick up most of the tab for the
extension.
McGroarty said the state Department of Transportation pushed construction
back a year, a delay that did not concern him.
But PennDOT spokesman Dave Krisanda said he was puzzled by McGroarty’s
comments. “Why he would say that I have no idea.”
When the project was approved in October 1998, it was hoped construction on
Coal Street could begin in 2000, Krisanda said. But those projections proved
unrealistic, he said.
PennDOT records show the timetable was pushed back sometime between May and
December, but Krisanda could not say exactly when or why that happened.
But he speculated that the city’s tardiness in returning a form to the
state might be part of the reason for the delay. The state submitted the
paperwork to the city in August, but it was not signed and returned until
November, Krisanda said.
“The city is running the show,” he said. McGroarty could not be reached
Tuesday or Wednesday to explain the discrepancy.
The plan calls for Coal Street to be rebuilt and extended past Wilkes-Barre
Boulevard to connect to Union Street. The state government will pay $6.7
million.
Call Janoski at 831-7331.