The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is breaking a major project to rebuild six miles of Route 30 at the Allegheny-Westmoreland County border into smaller jobs in an effort to get the work done sooner.
The work, initially proposed in two sections from the Route 48 intersection in North Versailles to 10th Street in Irwin, likely will be done in at least four pieces. Plans for the first section, two miles from Route 48 to Carpenter Lane and Leger Road, will be on display Wednesday.
The entire project, which could cost well over $100 million, is designed to improve safety on a dangerous stretch of road by installing a median, replacing middle turn lanes with jug-handle turns and improving drainage. Breaking it into smaller pieces will allow work to proceed, with this section starting in 2023, said Rachel Duda, assistant district executive for design for Westmoreland, Washington, Fayette and Greene counties.
“”We wanted to make the project deliverable as soon as possible, and this way the way to do it,” Ms. Duda said. “We really want to get out there and get started so people can get the safety benefits. Safety-wise, this is going to make a major improvement.”
Although the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission recently estimated the cost for the entire project at $140 million, Ms. Duda said plans are still in preliminary design, so it is too early to estimate the cost. In addition, she said designers may learn cost-saving improvements from the early sections that can be used on the later sections.
At Route 48, current plans call for changing the intersection by installing something not often used in this area: displaced left turning lanes. That means instead of regular queuing lanes before traffic signals, traffic on Route 30 will queue for left turns after the light, which Ms. Duda said has shown to improve safety and reduce broadside accidents in other areas.
Jug-handle turns, where traffic exits to the right and loops around for left turns to cross the intersection at a traffic light, will be installed at Ardara Road, Peterson Road, Carpenter Lane and Leger Road. Usual design standards call for jug-handles every two miles, Ms. Duda said, but traffic tests have shown having them closer in this area will not slow down traffic.
Although the highway is a narrow corridor with businesses close to the road, this section shouldn’t involve major property acquisition. There will be some property needed around the jug-handles and “there could be some slivers” in other areas, Ms. Duda said.
Another major element in the project is improving drainage, said Liberty Hill, plans engineer for the project.
“This could be just a drainage project if we wanted,” Mr. Hill said. “Over the years the drainage has really suffered as more [side] roads were built.”
Ms. Duda said there has been some concern in the community that the project will cause access problems for emergency services and businesses. She stressed that the department has done extensive studies to make sure that isn’t the case, and public meetings like Wednesday are designed to identify any remaining problems.
“We’re trying to do the right thing here,” Ms. Duda said. “We feel very strongly about this being a necessary safety project. Everyone is still going to be able to get to all the businesses here.”
The plans will be on display from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hartford Heights VFD, 14335 Route 30, Irwin.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: May 26, 2019, 6:24 p.m.