(News)

State officials have given the city permission to extend the reconstruction of West Fifth Avenue to the approach ramps of the Mansfield Bridge.

Jim Struzzi, district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, says permission was granted last week by District 11 Executive Dan Cessna.

Although most of West Fifth Avenue is a city-owned road, state permission was necessary because the work is being performed with the assistance of a special, one-time-only $1 million grant approved last year by Gov. Ed Rendell and state transportation Secretary Allen Biehler.

About 21,000 cars daily use West Fifth Avenue, but the city would not have been able to repave the street without the grant, Mayor Jim Brewster says. He credits state Reps. Marc Gergely of White Oak and Bill Kortz of Dravosburg with arranging the funding.

"When you're trying to get businesses to locate here, you've got to dress yourself up," Brewster says.

The city is also asking Allegheny County to count the additional paving toward its share of next year's reconstruction of the Mansfield Bridge.

Under the terms of a 1940s state Public Utility Commission ruling, McKeesport is being asked to contribute $141,576 toward repairs to the bridge's approach ramps. Glassport Borough is also being asked to contribute.

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In related news, state officials have given the city permission to purchase a new traffic signal Downtown for use on Fifth Avenue as part of that street's reconstruction, says Bethany Budd Bauer, community development director.

Fifth Avenue is currently being widened and returned to two-way traffic between Water and Coursin streets under a $929,000 grant from the state's Home Town Streets Initiative. Paving is expected to be complete before November's "Salute to Santa" parade, Brewster says.

City officials say they are trying to arrange funding for new parking meters on Fifth Avenue --- as well as new Christmas decorations --- through the Downtown Business District Authority.

The existing parking meters are unsightly, and many no longer work, Brewster says. Parking meter revenue is included in each year's budget but has been neglected for too long, he says.

Parking fees will not be enforced at night or on weekends, Brewster says.