Giant Eagle store wins in bridge replacement appeal
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Bartolotta Giant Eagle said it would go out of business if the Route 88 bridge over Pigeon Creek were to close because of a PennDOT construction project.
The state Department of Transportation needs to redesign a bridge replacement project to keep traffic flowing on Route 88 in Finleyville, a Washington County Court order suggests.
The department can appeal the July 11 order by Judge Michael Lucas to Commonwealth Court, said an attorney representing a property owner in the case.
Bartolotta Giant Eagle, which was to have part of its property taken for the bridge over Pigeon Creek, filed an objection in court to the planned closing of Route 88 for the construction project, saying it would go out of business if that occurred, court records show.
Lucas agreed with the store’s argument, ruling PennDOT could “conveniently complete its intended project without causing catastrophic harm to a long-standing community grocery store that employs between 125 and 150 people and serves thousands more.”
The store, in neighboring Union Township, offered to purchase property to allow PennDOT to build a temporary bridge around the construction zone, said Bartolotta’s attorney Dwight Ferguson of Sewickley.
The court ruling voids PennDOT’s declaration-of-taking filing against Bartolotta’s, he said.
The store does not object to the two-lane bridge being replaced or to losing property to the project, Ferguson said.
He said the state also needs to keep a lane of traffic flowing through the construction zone to allow police and school buses to avoid detours.
Construction was expected to begin next month on the rapid bridge replacement project and be completed in December.
PennDOT attorney Nicholas Mertens could not be reached Tuesday for comment.