PennDOT Begins Keyser Avenue Improvement Project

Scranton, Lackawanna County - After roughly a decade of planning, PennDOT is finally beginning a long awaited road improvement project in Scranton.

Utility workers have started to work along South Keyser Avenue.

For the next three years, PennDOT plans major improvements to the busy road.

"What we are doing is widening the shoulders of the road," PennDOT spokesman James May said. "We'll be putting in two new lights, upgrading two lights, repaving about a four-mile section and just doing some general upgrades to the road."

Helen Marie Olecki owns a dog grooming business right next to where some of the road work has started with utility crews.

She likes the long-term idea but worries about the short-term.

"When it's finished I hope it will mean more business and we'll be able to fix up our building as well and attract more customers, new customers," Olecki said. "I'm just concerned that a lot of people will think we're going out of business here and our business will slack off."

When paving gets underway, PennDOT will actually be doing a test.

Over a four-mile section of the road that is being redone, officials plan to use four different types of asphault to see which one holds up best.

PennDOT also plans to use a paving compactor with computer and GPS technology that has a better feeling for the roads.

"This is actually one of the two biggest projects that we'll be doing all year. This is a $10.5 million project," May said.

For people that have businesses along Keyser Avenue, they say the road has needed help for decades.

"It is needed. They're going to put a traffic light down at the corner so that's a blessing because there have been a lot of accidents there," Olecki said.