Arguably the worst school parking lot in the region last year was Panther Valley High School’s.

Some of the potholes were longer and wider than the vehicles bouncing around on them. The depressions were inches deep.

That all has improved thanks to a unique joint project involving the school district and three Panther Valley municipalities.

Not only has the parking lot been repaved, but the joint effort resulted in a savings of about $700,000 to the district - and the taxpayers.

The parking lot was repaved last week by the borough work forces from Coaldale, Lansford and Summit Hill.

Although Nesquehoning is also in the Panther Valley district, the borough council opted to not participate in the project.

David McAndrew, superintendent of schools in the Panther Valley School District, said the district has purchased a paver for $35,000 for the project. It now will be available for use by the participating boroughs.

“We provided all the materials, but the towns provided machinery and labor,” McAndrew said.

The project took a week and involved 12 municipal employees.

“The agreement allowed us to save around $700,000,” McAndrew said.

Ronald Yuricheck, workforce supervisor in Summit Hill, said preparation for the project took two days and the paving and other aspects of the project took three additional days.

“On Wednesday we tech coated (put tar binder in the potholes) and did scratch and base repairs,” Yuricheck said.

McAndrew said, “We are thankful for their service and appreciate the boroughs assisting us in this project. Everyone is really working together for the betterment of the Panther Valley students and we are excited about the future. Again, we can’t thank the community enough for all their support.”

He added, “It is great to work together with the local boroughs. The Panther Valley community is made up on people with amazing work ethics. This was visible by the way all the workers completed the job last week.”

Yuricheck said he was pleased to be part of the cooperative effort, noting more accomplishments are achieved when people work together.

He said an added factor to the project is that some summer helpers were used, giving them experience in paving and related work.

Coaldale workers who helped with the project were Jonathan Oakes, Ryan Boyle, Brian Erbe, Brian Kropf and Bryce Kropf.

Lansford employees on the project were Greg Dailey and Colton Black.

Summit Hill personnel were Yuricheck, John Poko, Johnny Byers, Ethan Gardiner and Riley Hoben.