Jul 7, 2026 By Mike Jones 3 min read

Construction will continue as scheduled to install a new box culvert under South Main Street despite back-to-back days of heavy rain over the weekend that led to standing water along Park Avenue near the notoriously flood-prone intersection in Washington.

Crews spent three weeks in June lowering precast concrete culvert sections below Park Avenue, but the project is only halfway done as they plan to close South Main on Monday to begin installing more sections during the next 12 weeks before reopening the road in late September.

Weekend storms that brought torrential rainfall Saturday and Sunday left Park Avenue impassable due to flooding, raising questions about the efficacy of the culvert upgrades. But state Department of Transportation officials said Monday that the project is only halfway done and the original culvert built in 1928 still remains below South Main, which acts like a chokepoint for stormwater runoff when Catfish Creek swells from heavy rain.

“The first half of the box culvert had been completed, and the temporary stream diversion had been removed, allowing Catfish Creek to flow as it normally would,” PennDOT spokeswoman Emily Stambaugh said in an emailed statement, alluding to the pump system that had been channeling the creek water around the construction site as crews work. “Based on the site inspection, PennDOT does not believe the construction activities exacerbated the flooding.”

The flooding is not delaying the second phase of the project as crews restarted activities on Monday with single-lane closures at the intersection before they shut down a section of South Main to all traffic beginning next week.

“PennDOT inspected the project site following the weekend’s heavy rainfall and found no damage to the contractor’s equipment or to project structures, fencing or signage,” Stambaugh said. “The inspection identified only minor erosion of aggregate at the outlet side of Catfish Creek.”

Photos circulating on social media over the weekend showed parts of Washington & Jefferson College’s football field and track at Cameron Stadium were underwater, although flood barriers installed by the school last fall appeared to keep the rising water from inundating the grandstands.

The low-lying area of South Main Street at Park Avenue has been flood-prone for more than a century, so PennDOT is trying to upgrade the culvert to allow for more water to pass through during torrential storms. The nearly century-old culvert is being removed and replaced with a new reinforced concrete box culvert as part of the $2.25 million reconstruction project. The project is expected to be completed in November.