STROUDSBURG -- Over $2 million dollars will be invested in Monroe County -- and a huge chunk of that change will help improve one of the most heavily traveled streets in the county seat.
Stroudsburg borough received more than $130,000 dollars of gaming money to use for paving and drainage improvements along Sarah Street, spanning from Fifth to Ninth Streets. According to the city, the plan is to begin seeing those improvements as early as this summer.
And according to borough officials -- and residents like Jim Dennis -- the improvements couldn't come a moment too soon.
"It looks like the devil. Yeah, and you know especially down there where it's all potholes," Dennis said.
Dennis lives along Sarah Street -- while he usually sits outside on his porch, he has a bird's eye view of the damage that's been done to the street over the years.
"Here is all torn up because of the gas and water line, but down there, it's a mess," he added.
Many other residents tell Newswatch 16 that countless vehicles have taken quite a beating driving along this particularly bumpy stretch.
"I think all the streets need repaving, including Sarah [Street]," said resident James Flaherty.
While many in Stroudsburg are happy to see the funds going towards something constructive -- such as community improvement -- some wish it would've gone to something else, like property tax relief.
"Well, I thought casino money was supposed to help the elderly," Flaherty added. "But [the street] is busy. You got the courthouse here, the fire department here, it's a busy street."
In response to some residents' concerns, the state did say that thirty-four percent of casino revenue does in fact go to property tax relief.
According to the Mayor of Stroudsburg, a bid for the paving project will go out next month, with a tentative start date of June or July.