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Dark streaks on the River Common portal walls along the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre are now gone.
				Luzerne County also fixed cracks in the granite steps and eroded sidewalk and wall joints.
				The work was part of a $199,100 maintenance project that wrapped up last month and was covered by a portion of the county&rsquo;s annual natural-gas recreation funding.
				&ldquo;It looks fantastic. I wish we could do more areas of the River Common,&rdquo; said county Engineer Lawrence Plesh.
				County officials decided to take a &ldquo;hard look&rdquo; at maintenance needs at the county-owned recreation facility after some residents pointed out issues, Plesh said.
				The revamped $23 million park is already more than a decade ago and will require periodic work because it is an outdoor facility exposed to the elements, he said. Unveiled in 2009, the complex also includes an amphitheater and landscaping designed to draw visitors to the water&rsquo;s edge and make the river an asset.
				Because the county doesn&rsquo;t have funding to address all surfaces of the park at this time, River Common maintenance will have to be broken into smaller projects, said county Operational Services Division Head Edmund O&rsquo;Neill.
				&ldquo;We did a portion of what we&rsquo;d like to do, but that&rsquo;s what it has to be,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Neill said. &ldquo;Our goal is to try to get on a schedule of work for all county property so problems don&rsquo;t get to the degree that it&rsquo;s too costly and not up to standard.&rdquo;
				Plesh said he next wants to tackle a low wall that runs along much of the park and more worn sidewalk sections.
				The recent project focused primarily on the two portal areas.
				A chemical cleaner and pressure washer were necessary to remove the stains, Plesh said.
				Plesh worked with a consultant to determine the proper cleaning materials and techniques and said they will be incorporated in future work at the River Common, which runs from the county courthouse to the area of the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center.
				&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t want mold and mildew to get ingrained in the stone,&rdquo; he said.
				Dalton, Pennsylvania-based D&M Construction Unlimited Inc., the low bidder, completed the recent work.
				The county has received approximately $228,600 to $307,600 from natural gas drilling annually since the state authorized such earmarks under Act 13 in 2012, with some used for black fly spraying and recreation grants to outside entities.
				Natural gas funding also was tapped in 2018, when the county had to complete $89,000 in repairs to the River Common fishing pier wall caused by a Susquehanna ice jam.

Black streaks removed from River Common portal walls