CRANBERRY TWP — The township has completed two major infrastructure improvements and a new sidewalk link to its northern and southern regions.

The three projects, with a total cost of about $10 million, will connect Cranberry’s water infrastructure and improve its bicycle-pedestrian system.

Those efforts were lauded in several ceremonies Thursday along Executive Drive and Thomson Park Drive.

A new 24-inch water main connecting the township’s southern water circuit and storage system with its northern counterpart has been completed.

The line will allow the township to use the new water pump station completed earlier this year on Pennwood Drive in Thorn Hill Industrial Park.

The new pipeline, which runs from Freedom Road to Rochester Road, will provide as much water as planners anticipate the township needing once the community is fully built, which is expected by 2030.

It also will ensure the maintenance of water levels in Cranberry’s west and north storage tanks, both of which are served by the township’s 16-inch northern waterline.

In a ceremonial inauguration of the new waterline, supervisors joined to turn an oversize wrench opening the valve in a vault below ground level.

As the new trench was being filled, the township directed the contractor to build a cement sidewalk above the pipeline instead of covering it with grass and shrubbery.

The 2,600 feet of new sidewalk connects with other sidewalk segments which had previously been in place alongside the road.

Pedestrians now are able to walk the mile from Freedom Road to Rochester Road without stepping into traffic lanes.

“Walkers and joggers are already using the new sidewalks, which will make it safer for our citizens,” said Supervisor John Skorupan.

A symbolic walk of the sidewalk by township staff members was held Thursday afternoon.

It joins a rapidly growing network of sidewalks and trails in different areas of Cranberry which have either recently been completed, are being built, or are planned.

Slightly west of the new waterline and sidewalk, a second major pipeline project also is largely complete.

Within the past week, a new sewer main running along Brush Creek from the sewage treatment plant on Powell Road to Cranberry’s southern border with Marshall Township, went into service. The five-mile pipeline, known as Interceptor One, carries wastewater from all parts of Cranberry into the Brush Creek plant.

“These projects will enable Cranberry to grow the way we have visualized in our comprehensive plan,” said Bruce Mazzoni, township supervisors chairman.

“They also will keep our sewer and water infrastructure in top operating condition for the foreseeable future.

“And the sidewalk we just completed reflects a need our residents have consistently cited for better pedestrian connections within the township.”