Lackawanna County Chief Financial Officer Dave Bulzoni announced the $29.1 million plans at a meeting of the county commissioners on April 9. The money—from a refinancing and borrowing package—would fund maintenance to fix crumbling roads, bridges and other infrastructure issues throughout the Pennsylvania county that have been neglected for many years.
Despite being introduced recently, the planning of the initiative dates to October 2022, Bulzoni’s first month working for the county.
“At that time, one of our bridges went down. There wasn’t any funding available to improve it,” Bulzoni said. “We didn’t have a plan for improving our roads and bridges, never mind any of our other capital assets.”
The commissioners voted 2-0 at the meeting to introduce an ordinance authorizing up to $35 million to fund the capital improvement plan. Both Democrat Bill Gaughan and Republican Chris Chermak voted yes. Gaughan spoke highly of the initiative, calling it a “responsible and forward thinking” plan.
“You need a plan for this type of investment in infrastructure in our communities that people rely on every single day … These are the roads our families drive on; they’re the bridges that connect our neighborhoods, and they’re the backbone of economic activity in our region,” Gaughan said.
According to Gaughan, deferring maintenance further would lead to higher costs, safety risks and lost opportunities. The ordinance will come back before the commissioners for a vote to adopt at a meeting on April 16.
Lackawanna County maintains 154 bridges and 35 miles of roads, many of which are classified as in poor or critical condition. The improvement plan requires the county to raise $29.13 million in a general obligation bond via refunding a $12 million short-term note from 2023 and borrowing$17.13 million to fund the projects.
Bulzoni said the county has already received $8.5 million in federal and state funding to cover costs of certain projects and reduce the overall amount of money to be borrowed. The plan
would raise debt service in 2026 by $1 million more than in 2025 but will not require a tax increase to pay for the debt. According to details in the plan, the county will use the debt-service fund balance in 2026 to offset the increase due to the onset of reassessment.
The plan is comprised of numerous road and bridge projects with various paving, drainage and rehabilitation work. Some of the projects and their locations include:
Center Street, Scranton
Stauffer Industrial Park, Taylor
Montage Mountain Road, Scranton/Moosic
Glenmaura Boulevard, Moosic
Main Street, Blakely
Gordon Avenue, Carbondale
Poplar Street Bridge, Mayfield
GC Smith Road Bridge and retaining wall, Elmhurst Township
Ash Gap Road Bridge, Spring Brook Township
Plank Road Bridge, Clifton Township
Keystone Road Bridge, Clifton Township
Phillips Road Bridge, Clifton Township
Rush Brook Creek Bridges, Jermyn
Main Street, Archbald
Lehigh Road Bridge, Covington Township
Earl Clark Road Bridge, Benton Township
Pumphouse Road Bridge, Jefferson Township
Archbald Retaining Wall
Blakely Retaining Wall
The comprehensive capital improvements project also details work to county facilities including the replacement of the No. 5 Dam on Montage Mountain in Scranton, improvements to the jury waiting room and public defender’s office at Lackawanna County Courthouse, a roof replacement at Lackawanna County prison and energy saving projects at all facilities across the county.
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