Residents of Clare Drive evacuated after South Strabane road collapse
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Crews work to repair Clare Drive Tuesday morning in South Strabane Township.
Jon Andreassi/Observer-Reporter
Crews work to repair Clare Drive Tuesday morning in South Strabane Township.
Residents of Clare Drive in South Strabane Township are being evacuated from their homes after part of the road collapsed.
Joe Szczur, district executive for PennDOT’s Engineering District 12, called it an emergency situation. Szczur said local residents discovered the road beginning to give way Monday evening.
Szczur said the collapse was caused by the saturated soil beneath the road.
“It’s all due to this kind of material that exists here. It’s just a silty, sandy type of material,” Szczur said Tuesday morning.
With high amounts of precipitation over the last few weeks, it has caused the soil to soften.
“This is just typical of our neck of the woods. We have 250 locations like this,” Szczur said.
South Strabane fire Chief Scott Reese said there are 12 homes beyond where the road collapsed. Clare Drive is the only way in or out for the residents.
The collapse caused a crack that extends most of the way across the road, which could lead to further damage.
Szczur said they will dig into the embankment on the opposite side of the road to open it up to one lane of traffic.
According to Reese, there is no estimate on when the road may open, and crews are still assessing if the road will stabilize.
Though the road is owned by South Strabane Township, PennDOT is assisting with the repairs, and bringing up equipment from the nearby construction on I-70.
“I directed them up here. Let’s get some stuff up here and let’s help these folks out. It’s just the right thing to do,” Szczur said.
According to Szczur, PennDOT will provide 24/7 monitoring for Clare Drive.
“We’re going to get some of our staff up here … and just keep a watchful eye on this., because this is a pretty precarious situation,” Szczur said.