SCRANTON — Progress comes at a cost for businesses in one part of the city where ongoing infrastructure projects cause traffic disruptions.
Pennsylvania American Water has had a large sewer-stormwater tank project underway in the parking lot of the Green Ridge Plaza during the past year, and which is expected to get completed later this year.
Jim Warren, the owner of Izzy’s Pizzeria in the Green Ridge Plaza, said his family opened the pizzeria Feb. 14. About a week later, the water company fenced off a large section of the plaza parking lot under the tank project.
“It’s definitely had an impact on our business and all of the businesses in the plaza, so I wanted to find out what’s going on with that project. When do we see it coming to an end?” Warren asked Scranton City Council at its meeting Jan. 7, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video of the meeting posted on YouTube.
Council members said they would inquire about the timeline for that project.
In a phone interview Monday, Warren said the PAW project cut off a large section of the rear of the plaza parking lot that used to serve as a traffic lane for patrons. The project also has reduced parking in certain areas of the lot and generally made interior traffic tighter.
Water company spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said Monday via email that the tank project is still moving forward as planned and should be completed later this year. The new 780,000-gallon storage tank and infrastructure will reduce “combined sewer overflows” of stormwater and wastewater into the Lackawanna River during times of heavy rain.
“The tank is complete in place but there is still some programming and maintenance related items to be installed along with (site) restoration. Once everything is final, portions of the Green Ridge Plaza lot and Gardner Avenue will be paved,” Turcmanovich said.
The project cost estimate rose from $12.5 million to $15 million, with the increase coming from conditions at the job site. Those included additional work and shoring due to soil conditions, relocating utility lines and road conditions needing additional overlay, she said.
The tank project is part of the Scranton Wastewater Long Term Control plan — a 25-year program of nearly 60 combined sewer overflow improvement projects to control and significantly reduce the amount of wastewater discharged into the Lackawanna River and its tributaries. PAW inherited the Long Term Control Plan from the Scranton Sewer Authority at the end of 2016, when PAW bought the SSA sewer system serving Scranton and Dunmore.
Warren said he fully supports the tank project for its environmental benefits. He also realizes no one intends to harm neighboring businesses. But his fledgling pizzeria just happens to be on the front line of the tank project.
It’s also near another project involving a necessary infrastructure upgrade where Scranton’s past meets the present.
Last month, the state Department of Transportation started a project to replace the Green Ridge Street Bridge. PennDOT on Dec. 4 announced it started an extended closure and detour of part of Nay Aug Avenue in Scranton for reconstruction as part of a project to replace the nearby 1946 Green Ridge Street Bridge. The detour of Nay Aug Avenue using Green Ridge and East Market streets and North Main Avenue is expected to last around two years. The project calls for construction of a temporary bridge next to the original bridge by spring of 2025, and then demolition of the original bridge and construction of a permanent bridge in the same spot.
Warren also told the council Jan. 7 that the bridge project is “also starting to greatly impact the businesses down there. People are, really, they’re just going elsewhere.”
In the phone interview Monday, Warren said he’s not sure the pizzeria will survive.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t think we’re going to make it,” Warren said. “If we can make it over this hump, we’ll be fine.”
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