Road work to begin in Meadow Lands
Changes are coming to Pike Street and Country Club Road this week in Chartiers Township as PennDOT begins building turning lanes at the intersection in Meadow Lands.
Changes are coming to the intersection of Pike Street and Country Club Road this week in Chartiers Township as PennDOT begins building turning lanes at the intersection in Meadow Lands.
Drivers may want to consider finding alternate routes when traveling through the village of Meadow Lands in Chartiers Township.
Starting Wednesday, crews from Frank Gavlik & Sons of Charleroi will begin the reconstruction of the intersection of Pike Street and Country Club Road. The $2.1 million project is slated to be done next May.
The work includes widening Pike and Country Club to provide turning lanes and improve the turning radius for trucks. The existing traffic signal also will be replaced.
Drivers who regularly go through the area have had a taste of what traffic will be like in the coming year. Crews for various utility companies spent the last few months relocating lines that resulted in single-lane, alternating traffic on the two roads.
Work on the project started late last year with the demolition of a house and some preliminary work, said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation. The contractor had to wait for the utility companies to move lines before work could continue, he added.
“They will start installing drainage,” Faieta said of the contractor.
No date has been set for a weekend closure on Pike that will allow a subcontractor for Ohio Central Railroad to replace the crossing on Pike, just to the south of Country Club. Once the crossing work is done, Faieta said PennDOT’s contractor will pave the area adjacent to the crossing before reopening the road.
There also will be a single-lane restriction on Pike during the project, with a posted detour.
Township police Chief James Horvath suggests drivers may want to consider using Interstate 79 as a way around the construction.
“Take the highway between the Racetrack Road and Meadow Lands interchanges,” Horvath suggested. “And if you want to get to Country Club Road, you might be better off taking it from Locust. It may be longer, but it might be quicker.”
His officers will use the highway to get around the construction.
Firefighters also will likely use the highway as a way around the expected congestion, said Chief Vince Altieri of the township’s volunteer fire department. Firefighters have other options to get to the Richhill area off Country Club Road, including taking Allison Hollow Road.
“We have ways to get around,” Altieri said. “We had to get through a few times while they were doing utility work.”
Asking South Strabane Township firefighters for assistance also is an option.
“There is so much traffic that comes through there, but that’s why they are making the improvements,” Horvath said. “But it will be such a great help getting the traffic through that intersection when it is done. It is part of growing pains.”