No end in sight for the Meridian Road closure
While no repair or reopening dates are available regarding the upcoming closure of Meridian Road in the Renfrew neighborhood of Penn Township, officials at the state Department of Transportation’s local office say work is ongoing.
A collapse of the southbound lane just above the railroad tracks occurred in May, which PennDOT officials say was caused by heavy rainfall.
At that time, PennDOT closed the lane around the collapse over the railroad tracks and placed a temporary stop sign.
Motorists all summer and fall have been taking turns stopping at the sign and going around the slide.
On Tuesday, PennDOT officials announced the road will be closed on Monday at the site and detours were suggested.
PennDOT officials said the slide has grown in size and the road is no longer safe.
Deb Krelow, owner of the Hotel Beacon 1.5 miles from the closure, is frustrated that the collapse was not repaired over the summer.
She said the closure will greatly affect her business, as not only customers, but purveyors will have to take the long way around to get to the Beacon.
“Things are hard enough, but let’s just close the road, what the heck,” Krelow said.
She said customers who normally access her restaurant and bar from Meridian Road will go elsewhere instead of following the cumbersome detours.
“It’s going to hurt,” Krelow said. “It’s just one more thing on top of everything else, but we’ll survive.”
Mike Matis, manager at PennDOT District 10 in Butler, sent a statement on Friday regarding the closure.
The statement said five, 30-foot deep core borings were taken in the area to perform a subsurface investigation this summer.
Matis’ statement said PennDOT is currently in the process of obtaining additional information by performing a slope-stability analysis to determine the cause of the slide.
Surveyors in the near future will perform additional surveys to extend the limits of the study, the statement said.
“We are currently evaluating repair options to permanently fix the area,” the statement said. “A coal seam, steepness of the existing slope above the railroad and weak soils provide a challenge in the repair.”
Matis said no additional information would be forthcoming at this time regarding the situation.
“It isn’t something that can be fixed overnight,” he said on Friday.
