Poor condition of street worries Monessen resident

By Kaylie Moore
kmoore@yourmvi.com
A Monessen street which has caused problems for residents over the past two years is finally slated for paving.
Nelson Yates said Dale Avenue became an eyesore and inconvenience after mine subsidence broke the sewage lines running beneath it in 2017.
“They fixed the sewer, but they never paved back over it,” Yates said. “They just put gravel down in there and now there’s gravel everywhere.”
Yates, 91, has been a Dale Avenue resident since 1962, when it was still known as Arch Avenue. He said the city maintained the road regularly until the sewage issues arose.
“It’s always been a hassle to get in and out of here in the wintertime, but now it’s really bad,” Yates said. “I can’t understand why they’ve blacktopped some of these streets where the homes are all decayed, but not this street.”
While there are only two homes on Dale Avenue, Yates said “everybody on this side of the hill uses the road” as a shortcut to City Park.
Yates’ son, John Yates, said the incomplete construction project and further mine subsidence has left a manhole cover sticking out of the road; guide rails sinking into the hillside which runs alongside the roadway; treacherous, uneven road conditions and more.
“Anybody that doesn’t know that manhole is there could run right into it,” John Yates said. “If it snows bad in the wintertime and you’re not watching, you could drive right over the edge. Other parts of the road are caving in now, so you could drive right into a hole.”

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