Construction concerns detailed
REDSTONE TWP. – Construction for Toll 43 through Redstone Township could mean a dramatic decrease in business for one local business. A public meeting to outline the project, the construction schedule and issues related to blasting was held Thursday at the Redstone Township building.
Karen Ross, owner of the Pizza Wagon on Royal Road, was upset to learn Thursday that nearly all access from Route 40 to her business will be cut off by mid-summer. Royal Road and Patterson Road are both scheduled to be closed this summer.
Patterson will be permanently closed, ending in a cul-de-sac, while Royal will be reconstructed so it can travel over the main line of the expressway. Royal Road is scheduled to remain closed into the summer of 2007, according to Martin Hoover, an engineer with Mashuda, the contractor on the job.
“This was the first pizza shop in Fayette County. It opened in 1966,”said business owner Karen Ross. “It opened in a construction trailer. My husband’s aunt had it and I worked for her for 9 years and I’ve had it for 19.”
Ross said most of her business comes off of Route 40. Don Grant, the superintendent with Mashuda, said that with Patterson and Royal roads closed, motorists will have a five-mile detour to get to the Pizza Wagon from Route 40. The detour will be on Pleasantview-Smock Road.
Michael Houser of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission told Ross that they would try to work with her, possibly posting detour signs for the business.
Houser said the 15-mile stretch of expressway from Uniontown to Brownsville has been divided into five sections for construction. The section detailed Thursday is 51-D, stretching from Hatfield Road in the east to about 1,100 feet west of Royal Road at its western edge. Section 51-E, which is also in Redstone Township, is just now going out for bids, Houser said. A meeting will be held in the future to discuss the potential impact of that construction.
Hoover said alerts will be issued to all emergency personnel, bus contractors, public officials and the media two weeks before each road closure. He said a blasting plan is also being developed, and pre-blast surveys will be offered to everyone living within 1,000 feet or so of the blast areas.
Colleen Leichliter, who lives on Old Royal Road, was concerned about the possibility of losing well water in the area due to the blasting, since there is no water line serving the area.
Houser said a water well survey will also be done, measuring the quality and quantity at each well, with steps taken to remedy any problems that may arise.
“Obviously things are going to change, and they are going to change dramatically. Places that had been level will suddenly have a 50 foot drop,” Houser said.
Houser said people who know the area from hunting it or riding quads or dirt bikes through the woods won’t recognize it once construction begins.
“Stress to those you know who ride quads and dirt bikes to stay out of the area. It’s going to become very dangerous,” Houser said.