Tamaqua council roadwork, demolitions discussed

The Tamaqua borough council will plan for a pair of demolitions in town, as well as roadwork over the summer months.

Tamaqua Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt noted that both demolitions and the roadwork will be aided by Community Development Block Grant money.

The plan is for Owl Creek Road to be seal coated in the coming months.

“It’s basically the whole length of the road, 20 feet wide,” Steigerwalt said. “The road varies in width in spots, it might be 18, 20, 22 feet. To keep it simple, we decided running a straight 20 feet the length of the road. The road is just short of 5 miles.

The tentative bid opening for this oil and chip project is scheduled for April 2. Signs will go up a few days ahead of time, as the target date for the construction is slated for sometime over the summer.

Additionally, two Tamaqua structures will be torn down with the assistance of CDBG money. The addresses of 200-202 Pitt St. and 209-211 Lombard St. are set to be demolished.

Pool study

There will be a public meeting at the Tamaqua Borough at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday to discuss the Tamaqua pool’s feasibility study, according to Ann Marie Calabrese, Director of Community Development. No other information was available at the meeting.

Other business

• Councilman Richie Linkhorst fielded a prior complaint of potential traffic issues at the Tamaqua Elementary School during the morning. After monitoring the situation across a sample size, Linkhorst said that he was amazed with how orderly traffic was at the elementary school and he didn’t feel there was a need for further action.

• Mayor Nathan Gerace addressed a prior complaint that he received of vehicles exceeding the speed limit on Owl Creek Road. With the assistance of Tamaqua police, Gerace and police monitored traffic on Owl Creek Road. According to Gerace, only “one out of about 15 cars were driving above the speed limit.”