Valley Brook Road closing for bridge replacement
Montour Trail improvements continue, but to do so, Valley Brook Road in Peters Township will be closed beginning June 22 to make way for a bridge to carry bicycle traffic over the busy street. Once the bridge is completed, this section of the trail will be reopened.
The Montour Trail parallels Valley Brook Road underneath the bridge that carries Route 19 traffic. The section of Valley Brook Road heading toward Lawrence will be closed beginning June 22 to make way for a bridge that will carry bicycle traffice over the busy street.
Valley Brook Road in Peters Township will close June 22 at the Montour Trail crossing and will remain closed for a week, as crews assemble girders for a new trail bridge.
The new $1.6 million bridge will connect Montour Trail with Arrowhead Trail, the portion of Montour that is located in Peters and is owned and maintained by the township, said Mark Imgrund, a trail council member who is also the project manager for the Valley Brook Bridge No. 2.
Work on the project, which is now expected to be completed in September, hit a snag earlier this year when it was discovered that utility lines that cross Valley Brook Road at the construction site needed to be relocated. Imgrund said the new bridge is necessary because a section of Valley Brook which connects the two trails is a blind corner that presents a danger to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
“This is going to be a much-needed safety improvement,” he said.
The Route 19 and Valley Brook intersection will not be affected by the closure. According to the township, however, motorists going toward or away from Lawrence will not be able to proceed on Valley Brook. Detour signs will be posted.
The new bridge project is being funded by several sources including grants from the state, as well as Washington County, and private donations, Imgrund said.
The 46-mile trail stretches from Moon Township to Clairton and is part of the Great Allegheny Passage, a 330-mile trail that connects Pittsburgh with Washington, D.C.