Fifth Avenue in McKeesport is about to receive a $980,000 face lift because of federal transportation money.

The work is planned to cover the area of Fifth Avenue from Water Street, which is by the Youghiogheny River, to UPMC McKeesport. But if the bids come in too high, the target area might be scaled back, said Bethany Budd Bauer, the city's administrator for community development.

The federal portion of the money to pay for the project will be $929,000. That money is coming through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Home Town Streets program. The city will have to spend $51,000 as its share.

This grant pays for the beautification of the area, which will include repairing and restoring the concrete sidewalks; replacing handicapped access ramps; installing and, in some cases, replacing street lighting, trash cans and benches; coordinating the styles of the traffic signal poles; and taking care of the trees in the area, including removing dead and overgrown trees and planting new ones, according to the grant application.

Ms. Bauer said the signs on Fifth Avenue date back at least two decades, so the city will update those as part of the project, plus get rid of the street lights that look like lollipops.

The city expects the construction to take about a year.

"We have been working with the governor's Community Action Team to do a Downtown impact project. This is a component of that," Ms. Bauer said.

The beautification work goes along with the renovations of the old Sky Bank building on Fifth Avenue, which has become the new city hall.

The city plans a one-story addition to that building which will serve as the council chambers and as a community room for groups that want to use it.

Further east, developer Barry Stein has been upgrading the Midtown Plaza Mall, which consists of buildings on both sides of Fifth Avenue. There used to be a parking deck over the street between the buildings of the Midtown Plaza Mall, but that has been removed.

While the building on the north side of Fifth Avenue is occupied with merchants, the retail space on the south side is vacant. Ms. Bauer said that was because the city-owned parking garage leaks when it rains, so the retail spaces below also leak. The city has applied for grants to waterproof and repair the structural integrity of that garage so the shops can be rented.

The Fifth Avenue upgrade is proposed to start at the intersection of Fifth and Water Street, where the city has rented more than 200 slips at the McKees Point marina and renovated the Palisades, where a dance and social hall is above a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch.

"We're building on the strength of what we already have," Ms. Bauer said.