Sidewalks installed less than two years ago as part of a $7 million renovation of Point State Park are already starting to crumble.

The terrazzo walkway leading from the park entrance to the Portal Bridge has chipping and cracking along the expansion joints and shallow potholes in places. The rubber caulking has withered or pulled loose in several spots.

Not only is the state on the hook for any repair costs; it has hired the same contractor to reconstruct the park walkways along the riverfronts.

"It is correct that we are beyond their one-year bond period for the first phase of work," said Christina Novak, spokeswoman for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which owns the park. "We are working on addressing the wear to the terrazzo as a maintenance issue."

She said the damaged sections were less than 60 square feet of the 37,500 square feet of terrazzo walkway installed in the park.

S.E.T. Inc. of Lowellville, Ohio, was awarded the $4.5 million general contract for the first phase of park renovations, which cost $7.1 million overall.

"I was not aware of that," the company's project manager, John DeSantis, said when asked Monday about the deterioration. He speculated that the damage was caused by vehicles driving on the walkway.

"I don't believe that sidewalk was designed for vehicular traffic," he said.

The walkway opened in May 2008 at a ceremony attended by Gov. Ed Rendell.

Dan Zunko of Reserve noticed the damage last week when he took advantage of warmer weather to go for a stroll in the park.

"Part of my shoe caught in one of the potholes and I stumbled a bit," he said.

"I was amazed to see potholes forming in the sidewalk between the Hilton and the Portal Bridge ... These are not small holes, either. Some of them are probably a foot across," said Mr. Zunko, who works Downtown for BNY Mellon.

Ms. Novak said the state became aware of the problem before winter set in, meaning that the walkway was about 1 1/2 years old when it began to show decay.

S.E.T. Inc. also is the contractor for the $6.95 million third phase of park renovations, including the reconstruction of the promenades along the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. That contract was awarded last year.

"We feel S.E.T. continues to perform well on their work at the park," Ms. Novak said.

Lisa Schroeder, executive director of Riverlife, which has helped to oversee the park renovations, said the organization is "aware of the maintenance issues and we're working with DCNR and the city to resolve them."

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