Sep 25, 2014 3 min read

Traffic backs-up practically on a daily basis along Venetia Road near a one-lane bridge on the boundary of Nottingham, Union and Peters townships near the Finleyville Cemetery. With about 6,000 vehicles a day traveling the road, jockeying for position to cross the narrow bridge is an adventure for drivers.

During a Sept. 23 public meeting in the Union Township Municipal Building, plans to construct a wider, two-lane bridge that is raised above the 25- and 100-year storm events were unveiled to a crowd of about 20 interested property owners who will be affected by construction.

Rachel Duda, assistant district executive for design for the state Department of Transportation, said the Sept. 23 meeting was the second, following the initial presentation May 22, 2013, during which residents requested replacement of a nearby box culvert. That issue was addressed and the new drawings were on display for the public Sept. 23.

The project estimated to cost about $3 million is not expected to go out for bid until June 2015 with construction in the summer of 2016. Those dates could change if right-of-way issues are resolved sooner than expected.

The project will be 100 percent state funded.

Total time of construction is estimated to be about six weeks. A detour will be in place during the entire time of construction, said Bill Armstrong, vice president of WEC Engineers, consultants for the bridge design.

Construction time will be shorter because the bridge is being pre-cast at another location. Plans call for work possibly up to 24 hours a day, depending on local township ordinances.

When completed, Armstrong said, the new bridge will have two lanes, each 11 feet wide, with 5-foot wide shoulders. The bridge deck will be raised and the current reverse curve will be straightened. The narrow box culvert near the Church Hill Road intersection will also have two, 11-foot wide lanes and 5-foot wide shoulders.

The railroad crossing will be improved and the dip on the tracks will be removed. Utilities will all be located to the same side of the road, Armstrong said.

Phase 1 will take about four weeks when the bridge and culvert are replaced. Phase II will take about two weeks and will be the replacement of the railroad crossing and paving between Railroad Street and McClelland Road.

What is good news for motorists is bad news for Colleen Kelley. The project involves taking her house in Nottingham Township. She’s lived in the older, two-story wooden house for 17 years.

“I really don’t want to go,” Kelley said following the presentation. Two houses will be taken, including a house across the road from Kelley, that she said has already been settled and the property owner relocated.

PennDOT is currently searching for a four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2,400-square-foot house for Kelley that has a large yard for her dogs. She learned she would have to move about 18 months ago.

“I planned to spend the rest of my life there and then along comes PennDOT,” Kelley said. She must be relocated before construction can begin.

The house, according to Kelley, was at one time owned by Libby Hodgson, a hairdresser who had her salon in the house.

“I understand (Hodgson’s) family lived there for about 100 years,” Kelley said. The house needs to go to straighten the curve and to raise the bridge deck. In total, 15 properties will be affected in some way, Armstrong said.

“It’s sad I have to go,” Kelley, 58, said. “But things progress. It’s going to be OK.