Asphalt Paving in Bethel Park, PA

Homeowners who call about asphalt paving in Bethel Park are usually dealing with a driveway poured during the borough's biggest building years. Bethel Park incorporated as a borough on March 17, 1949, and its population went from 11,324 in 1950 to 23,650 in 1960 and 34,758 in 1970. It counted 33,577 people and 13,871 housing units in 2020. A driveway built in the 1960s has now been through more than fifty Pittsburgh winters, and many have been sealed and patched until there is not much left to save.

Undermined ground

One fact sets Bethel Park apart: according to Wikipedia, citing the Pennsylvania DEP, the whole borough was undermined. The Pittsburgh Terminal No. 8 Mine, known locally as the H Mine or Coverdale Mine, opened around 1920 and used room and pillar mining. Over time, ground above old workings can shift a little. For a driveway, that can mean a long crack that runs across the pavement in a straight line, or one area that keeps settling no matter how often it is patched. When we see that pattern, we tell you so, and we build the base to bridge minor movement rather than promise that asphalt will stop it.

Ridges and creek valleys

The borough sits between about 980 feet, where Piney Fork and Alsip Run meet in the southeast corner, and 1,370 feet at Rocky Ridge in the southwest, with an average elevation near 1,198 feet. The rock below is mostly sandstone, limestone and shale with some coal. Clay soils that weather out of shale hold water, and wet clay under a driveway is what causes soft spots and alligator cracking. We dig those areas out and replace them with compacted stone before paving.

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Routes 88 and 19

Most of the borough's commercial strip runs along Pennsylvania Route 88 and U.S. Route 19, around South Hills Village and the light rail stations. All three light rail lines, the Blue, Red and Silver, run through Bethel Park. Businesses on these corridors deal with heavy traffic, delivery trucks and plow damage. We patch, mill and overlay, sealcoat and restripe lots in phases so the doors stay open. Because both are state routes, any change to a driveway entrance onto them may need a PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit, and we check before work reaches the right-of-way.

Typical jobs in the borough

• Full tear-out and replacement of original two-car driveways
• Resurfacing overlays where the base is still solid
• Widening for a third car or a parking pad beside the garage
• Crack sealing and sealcoating to slow aging on newer pavement
• Patching sunken areas near downspouts and at the street apron

An early streetcar suburb

Pittsburgh Railways interurban lines reached the area in the early 1900s, which made Bethel Park an early streetcar suburb, and the lines were later upgraded to light rail. Homes near the old trolley stops tend to be older and on smaller lots than the 1960s plans farther out. Call (412) 796-9361 to set up a visit anywhere in Bethel Park.