PennDOT Announces Plan & Timeline For Route 30 Rebuild Project
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EAST PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Ten days after Route 30 fell, 250 truckloads of slide have been removed, and "there will be over 500 truckloads that will continue to have to be removed as we advance to construction of the wall," says PennDOT District 11 Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni.
Assistant Executive for Construction Jason Zang says they have now determined the area of the slide was man-made when the road was built 80 years ago.
"This was like a valley that they filled in," he said.
The rains of 2018 have proved too much for the fill, and it gave in to gravity 10 days ago.
So now it has to be filled once again so Route 30 can be rebuilt. That fill will come in behind a massive new wall.
Moon-Sirianni says, "It's a 400-foot long by 20-foot high partially anchored wall that will be placed at the back of the apartment complex."
The partially-anchored part means it will be anchored to bedrock for maximum stability.
KDKA's John Shumway Reports:
PennDOT has sent a clear message to any contractor interested in the job. Get your bids together quickly and be ready to work around the clock.
Moon-Sirianni says the bids are due by Friday, "and we are hoping to have a notice to proceed either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week with construction to start very shortly thereafter."
The job is estimated at $5 to $7 million, not counting the emergency contract when the slide was collapsing, the excavation work since the collapse, or the cost of relocating and housing those evacuated.
Residents of the Electric Avenue Apartments, who are currently being housed in local hotels, will remain out of their homes until the wall is ready in mid-June.
If there are no issues found along the way, Moon-Sirianni hopes to have drivers back on Route 30 by the end of June to mid-July.
