Capri Scarcelli, Editor in Chief; Kaiden Ciongoli, Media Manager; Jake Weinstein, Photography Manager; Ethan Bennett, Staff Writer
Road construction on Route 130, Pleasant Valley Road and Route 993 began on Feb. 7, 2018. This project was predicted to be finished around mid-November, according to TribLive, costing the government about $5 million to complete.
However, the traffic delays and closing of roads continue to impact Penn-Trafford’s drivers.
The Route 130 construction began night work on Aug. 13 for drainage. On Aug. 20, curbs were being set in place in order to expand the Crossroads intersection, making it easier for turning and traffic patterns.
According to PennDot, the project cost contractor Tedesco Construction Company $3.6 million.
Sandy Hill Road and Pleasant Valley Road were closed down, relying on flaggers to keep the flow of traffic.
Junior Trinity Garbaz, who lives on Sandy Hill Road, said that traffic was hard to get through during the peak of construction around the beginning of the school year.
“Going home from somewhere past Dairy Queen around rush hour makes getting home horrible. I was going home from a friend’s house, and it normally takes me five minutes to get home, but it took me around 20-25 minutes.” Garbaz said.
Along with widening the Route 130 intersection, Penn Township police officer Dave Myers said that Tedesco is also putting in a turning lane for Pleasant Valley Road with new traffic lights and sensors.
Myers added that there is a new sewage drain structure being implemented on Route 993 to avoid overflowing.
English teacher Gigi Manuppelli said she lives close to this pipeline construction; she was told to tell authorities if she smells natural gas by her house in order to ensure community safety.
Coming home from P-T in the afternoon, she said that there is a truck that comes by to sweep the dirt and stones off of the road, which sometimes slows her down.
“They drive 2mph and are sometimes unloading equipment; it really slows you down. You have to stop and wait” Manuppelli said. “I know we aren’t supposed to be in a hurry, but we teach our kids that time is so important–– to be on time is so important, but we don’t plan for [road] construction.”
Manuppelli suggests that if traffic poses as a detriment to a student’s timeliness, they should either find an alternate route or plan to leave ten minutes earlier than usual.
Thus, drivers having trouble with the Route 130 intersection needed to take Murrysville Road as an official detour, which hindered drivers. However, drivers also took the unofficial detour of Suhan and Charles Ave.
In a poll taken of 69 students, over 58 percent said they have been late at least once due to these delays. School doors open at 7 a.m. with the late bell ringing at 7:29 a.m.
Junior Joey Basista said, “During rush hour it takes forever to get anywhere especially if someone wants to make a left turn which, at a point, held up everything since there was only a single lane for a long time. Now that’s gone, but it still takes a while to get anywhere.”
Traffic was an issue during the initial construction due to weather. Myers stated, “Police had extra traffic patrol to try and slow people down on the slower roads since there was so much traffic on the main road.”
Stephen Kutz, construction manager for CDR Maguire Inc., was called unto the project early by Tedesco Construction Company as a consultant. He commented that the weather conditions were expected, but still problematic.
“The project was supposed to end July of 2019, but weather conditions, such as snow and rain ruining concrete creation and setting, have pushed back the job. The concrete can’t properly set, and shutting down the roads is just not a possibility,” said Kutz.
Construction is very limited in the poor conditions, which pushes that July completion back, but that is an expected issue when working on any road in colder climates.
Although the end date of construction is not confirmed, The Warrior encourages safe driving throughout the rest of the process.