Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration has picked a firm called CartaGraph to install software to manage street paving decisions, Public Works Director Guy Costa said today.

He said the city will pay $35,000 plus a $3,000-a-year fee for the software and service, including staff training. He said the system would not be in place for this year's paving season, because staff needs to input data on 20,000 city blocks, including their composition, paving history, curb cuts, utility lines and the prevalence of potholes. He said the 2009 paving plan will be determined using the system.

He said the department would not hire any new employees to use the system, but would have to shift some staff to get the data entry done.

Councilman William Peduto, who has pushed for better paving management, lauded the decision. "All of the streets will be placed on the city's Web site," he said, so residents can see when their street was last paved and whether it is on the schedule.