Paving could restrict traffic for people headed for Montage Mountain in Lackawanna County to see concerts, movies or baseball games or frolic at a water park this summer.
The county commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to award a $3,574,998.40 contract to pave Montage Mountain Road and some side roads to Pennsy Supply Inc., of Pittston Twp.
Pennsy will also pave Glenmaura National Boulevard from a railroad crossing near PNC Field to the Montage Mountain Road/Glenmaura boulevard intersection and all of Preate Drive and Lakeview Commons. The project is expected to start in the spring and be complete by the end of the year, county chief of staff Brian Jeffers said during a commissioners meeting shown on ECTV's YouTube channel.
Traffic jams often develop when baseball games and concerts happen at the same time, but Summa said officials have coordinated with LiveNation and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to limit problems.
LiveNation hosts summer concerts at the Pavilion at Montage Mountain. The RailRiders are the New York Yankees Triple-A team that plays at PNC Field. Montage Mountain Resorts operates the water park near the pavilion. Cinemark hosts movies at theaters off Glenmaura National Boulevard.
Montage Mountain Road is about 3.2 miles long, county engineer Frank Summa said. Glenmaura National is slightly less than 2 miles long. In all, the paving covers about six miles, Summa said.
The county plans to pay for the project through a short-term loan until it collects enough money through its $5 per vehicle registration fee, according to a county legislative cover sheet explaining the project.
The county plans to pave the rest of Glenmaura National Boulevard - from Montage Mountain Road - to Route 502 next year, Summa said. That section would have been part of this year's project, but a broken culvert required further design, Summa said.
