May 3, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read

The next time Hickory Grade Road is open between Parks and Cecil-Henderson roads, vehicles will be traveling over a 300-foot-long bridge that stands 70 feet above the highway below.

A section of Hickory Grade Road in South Fayette Township is closed until Nov. 15, 2019, while a portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s Southern Beltway is constructed in a project that requires massive amounts of excavation.

“There are about 3 million yards of earth and rocks to move on this site,” John Dzurko, turnpike commission project manager, said during a May 2 community outreach meeting in South Fayette.

The area addressed at the meeting is one of nine construction segments for the 13-mile, $800 million section of the Southern Beltway linking Interstate 79 with Route 22 and the Findlay Connector, providing direct access to Pittsburgh International Airport. Section 55C1-2, as the beltway’s stretch from Route 50 east to near the future site of the I-79 interchange, has North Shore-based Trumbull Corp. as general contractor.

For the duration of the street closure, the posted detour of about 2.5 miles is from Hickory Grade Road to Parks Road to Route 50 into Cecil Township, then on to Cecil-Henderson Road and back to Hickory Grade.

Paul Boggs, Trumbull’s project manager for the site, said the majority of earth moving is to take place during the next 10 months.

“In January, people will start seeing construction of the new Hickory Grade Road bridge, and that will take the better part of the year to get done,” he explained.

The primary access to the construction site is Parks Road.

“Everybody has to be very cautious on that road,” Boggs advised. “It’s not the best of roads for that situation, but we’ll certainly do our best to not make it a hazardous situation.”

The project will entail blasting, and Trumbull subcontracted with Terra-Mechanics Inc. of West Deer Township to perform pre-blast surveys of homes in the vicinity.

“If you live within the blasting radius, which is typically a thousand feet, they’ll probably be knocking on your door,” Dzurko said. “We highly encourage everyone to participate in that survey.”

Also affected by the project is Coal Pit Run Road, which is closed permanently. The street, which connected Alpine and Bowman roads in South Fayette, received minimal maintenance and was not heavily traveled.

Part of the work addresses utilities, including gas line abandonment and removal, water line relocation and power pole and wire replacement.

“I’m sure that has been sequenced such that people shouldn’t expect to lose service or anything like that,” Boggs said. “It’s a very well-orchestrated series of events to make that happen.”

For more information about the Southern Beltway’s middle section, visit www.patpconstruction.com/southern_beltway/22to79.