OLYPHANT -- A multi-million dollar project to re-pave about nine miles of road in Lackawanna County has worked its way into downtown Olyphant. But, the work in the borough will be more complicated than PennDOT anticipated.
Route 347 is known as Lackawanna Avenue when it winds through downtown Olyphant. It's the latest stop on a $3 million dollar project to re-pave 347. But first, crews have to put in new sidewalks that comply with federal standards.
The improvements are a welcome sign for Olyphant's budding business district.
"The winter has been really hard on us, so it's really great that they're doing some work and they're fixing the sidewalks. A lot of people walk around and do window shopping here, so it's great," said Natalie Magdon of Magdon Music.
Magdon Music has been in downtown Olyphant for 26 years, the owners told Newswatch 16 that business is picking up, and should do so even more with new sidewalks and a new road.
"I think it will make it more accessible. It'll be more plainly marked. It will be more pedestrian friendly, hopefully. Hopefully, it will lead to businesses. We do have a few new businesses coming into town which is exciting to see," said Olyphant Borough Manager C.J. Mustacchio.
All of the sidewalk work uncovered an unexpected problem, and it has to do with how the buildings in downtown Olyphant were built. When crews removed some of the sidewalks they found the building's basement underneath.
That's why the front of Sullum's dress shop looks like this for the time being...Crews were able to fill in some of the voids with concrete.
"A lot of them have been dealt with already so it should be a lot safer underneath the sidewalks," Mustacchio said.
Safer underneath, and safer on top. The new sidewalks are also designed to be handicapped accessible. Once the sidewalks are done, crews will pave Lackawanna Avenue.
"This is a very well-traveled road, so anything they can do to spruce it up would be great. This is a very important part of town there's a lot of great businesses here. It's great to do a lot of shopping here so to see that they're taking good care of our roads and doing some improvements is great," Magdon added.
It will be a few more weeks until all of Route 347 from Dunmore to Olyphant is all new.
