PennDOT prepares for Meridian Road reconstruction
PENN TWP — Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation met with officials from Penn Township on Wednesday, Jan. 3, to provide updates on the status of the reconstruction of Meridian Road.
According to Russ Rossi, highway design supervisor for PennDOT District 10, funding has been secured for the Meridian Road reconstruction project, and the preliminary design for the project is complete. The project will go out for bid on Feb. 1, and is expected to be awarded two weeks later.
In November 2022, the road was closed for an extended period of time due to a landslide which led to a partial collapse. The road stayed closed over the coming weeks, much to the frustration of nearby business owners, as the landslide continued to grow.
Traffic partially reopened in January 2023, but for one lane only, as the landslide subsided.
The damaged section of Meridian Road stretches from the intersections of Railroad Street and Smith Road.
According to Penn Township board of supervisors chairman Samuel Ward, in a separate but nearby project, reconstruction of the Renfrew Bridge, also part of Meridian Road, which spans the Connoquenessing Creek, will follow. PennDOT says work on the replacement bridge will start in late 2025 and finish sometime in 2026.
At the meeting, PennDOT and Penn Township also revised the emergency plan for when the current Renfrew bridge is closed due to flooding or an accident.
As part of this plan, construction on the new Renfrew bridge will not commence until the section of Meridian Road has reopened. The current Renfrew bridge also will not be used by heavy trucks in the lead-up to the reconstruction of Meridian Road.
