Apr 7, 2018 2 min read

Washington will be getting a park project done for free over the next few years.

Lane Construction Corp., a Pittsburgh company contracted by the state Department of Transportation for a widening project on Interstate 70, has agreed to give a large quantity of dirt to the city and to complete a project to fill in an area of the park behind the Stone Pavilion.

“It helps them, and it helps us,” said Tim Harden, assistant project manager with Lane Construction.

Harden said the I-70 project will add a third lane from the Interstate 79 interchange to the Beau Street exit and will widen the shoulder for about five miles from Beau Street to the Eighty Four exit. He said the construction began last May.

“As part of that project, we’ll have to cut some hillsides back,” he said.

PennDOT requires the company to find a place to put the approximately 1 million cubic yards of dirt that results from the work, and the city said it would take about 150,000 cubic yards of it.

“It’s a win-win, because we’ll have a place to take the fill, and it will help the city’s situation,” he said.

The city will use the dirt behind the Stone Pavilion.

According to Mayor Scott Putnam and Harden, Lane Construction will take out some of the trees behind the pavilion, haul the excess dirt into the area and fill in that valley area to level it.

Also at no cost to the city, Lane will build an access road connecting to Clare Drive on that side of the park, which will be used only as an emergency entrance and exit, Putnam said.

It will not be accessible to the public.

“They’ve been a good partner through this whole process,” Putnam said.

“It will be a good relationship.”

Putnam said the city is not yet sure how it will use the new space, but council voted to accept the agreement with Lane Construction during its Thursday meeting.

Harden said the park project will likely begin in the summer. He said the PennDOT project is not due to be completed until 2020, so the park project will be worked on during that time.