Officials Hope To Re-Open Route 30 In Coming Days
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EAST PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A portion of Route 30 that was destroyed by a landslide earlier this year could re-open by the end of the week.
In three very quick months, the massive Route 30 landslide has been removed, the repair designed, the $2 million retaining wall built, the hillside replaced with massive stones, the road surface rebuilt, guardrails installed and fresh lines painted.
PennDOT District 11 Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni says they'd like to get the road opened by the Wednesday afternoon rush hour.
"Love to, if we could. Not sure that's going to happen, though. If it's raining in the morning... we'll see where we go from there," she said.
Golden Triangle Construction says its work on the road is done and the road could have opened Tuesday. But PennDOT had some housekeeping work adjacent to the slide.
"Cleaning out some of the drainage that was filled up with some of the landslide," Moon-Sirianni said.
Only with the road rebuilt could they bring in the tree-trimming equipment to clear the trees overhanging the road.
There are also some potholes on the mainline of Route 30 that they did not want to repair until the contractor's big equipment was gone from the site.
"The public has been extremely patient out here, so we want to get it open as soon as we can," Moon-Sirianni said.
Even as traffic returns to Route 30, there is still more work to do below.
The precast concrete slabs of the wall still need to be installed, and utilities restored to the Electric Avenue Apartments.
It's estimated the residents who have been housed in local hotels since the slide occurred April 7 will not get back into their apartments until late July.
