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Those trolley tracks that are going to be removed from West Fifth Avenue? They're not going to be removed at all.

Instead, an extra-thick layer of asphalt will be laid over a plastic fabric known as "Petromat," designed to prevent the tracks from flexing and causing potholes.

The city's former public works director, now a city councilman, says that's a good alternative.

"It's a great alternative to removing the tracks," says Councilman Darryl Segina, public works director under the late Mayor Joe Bendel. "The expense of removing the rails is kind of cost-prohibitive. The next best thing would be to use the Petromat."

. . .

As first reported in Saturday's Daily News, city and state officials have decided not to pull out the Pittsburgh Railways tracks --- unused since 1963 --- after learning how solidly the rails are fixed into the concrete.

The problem isn't the tracks themselves, but the destruction of the surrounding pavement that would be necessary, City Administrator Dennis Pittman tells the Almanac.

Reconstructing the curb lanes would push the cost far beyond the $1 million allocated for the project by the state through a special one-time grant.

It was a possibility that city officials were prepared to face, Pittman says, and the $1.09 million bid for doing the work was provided by Donegal Construction of Unity Township, Westmoreland County, on a "unit pricing" basis, not as a flat price. That means any additional costs would have been borne by the city, not the contractor.

. . .

The original construction plan called for several inches of concrete to be removed on each side of the rails, says Jim Struzzi, district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

The tops of the rails were then going to be cut away, he says.

But once the old tar and pavement was removed, crews discovered that the rails were actually holding the rest of the road together, Struzzi says.

Cutting out the rails, he says, would destroy the entire road.

. . .

Instead, the Petromat fabric will be laid over top of the rails to absorb stress and shed moisture. According to the product's manufacturer, Propex Concrete Systems Corp. of Chattanooga, Tenn., Petromat has successfully been used under airport runways, parking lots and highways.

An extra-thick layer of pavement will then top the Petromat, according to Pittman --- about 4-inches at the center of the road, instead of the usual 3.5 inches.

"In essence, it will encapsulate the rails," he says.

The city's sewerage authority has already raised its manhole covers to compensate for the increase, he says, and the road will be taped down to the curbs at each side.

. . .

The switch could save the city a significant amount of money from Donegal's $1.09 million estimate. That savings would then be used --- at least in part --- toward the city's portion of the cost of repaving the approach ramps to the W.D. Mansfield Bridge.

Under a 1940s ruling by the state Public Utility Commission, the city and Glassport Borough are responsible for paying a percentage of any work done on their side of the bridge. Allegheny County, which plans to begin a $33 million reconstruction of the bridge in 2011, is demanding $141,576 from the city as its share of the work.

"It's a win-win on two fronts," Pittman says.

Donegal was scheduled to pave only between Ramp Two and Rebecca Street, but with the money that the city saves by not removing the rails, the paving project might be extended to include the Mansfield Bridge approaches, he says.

There is no legal problem with the city using part of the state's grant money for extending the paving to the Mansfield Bridge, Struzzi says, because the contract with Donegal was awarded on a unit-pricing basis, and because the paving would be done on the same roadway.

. . .

West Fifth Avenue was last paved in 1996 using a German system called Ralumac, says Segina, who was public works director at the time.

Ralumac, according to several online sources, is a synthetic paving material designed to quickly resurface rutted and damaged roads. The city was promised that Ralumac pavement would last for approximately eight years, Segina says.

"We got 14 years out of it --- though it's been in bad shape for a couple of years," he says.

"Petromat has been around for a while, and I know the state has used it," Segina says. "Those tracks vibrate when traffic is going over them, and the Petromat helps to minimize the vibration. I feel better if they're going to use the Petromat underneath the pavement."

. . .

Work resumed this week after city and state engineers decided to proceed with Petromat.

City officials dismissed reports that Donegal suspended the project after not being paid. The reports were gossip --- spread by letters sent to local newspapers --- and were completely untrue, Pittman says.

"These things seem to take on a life of their own," he says.

All of the work --- including, possibly, repaving West Fifth as far as the Mansfield Bridge --- should be complete by October, Pittman says.

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