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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Ruth
A. Myers |
State Rep. Ted Harhai |
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Harhai: Wendel Road overpass to reopen Friday with ribbon-cutting ceremony
HARRISBURG, July 25 -- State Rep. Ted Harhai, D-Westmoreland/Fayette, announced today that Wendel Road will reopen Friday afternoon where it crosses over the Pennsylvania Turnpike at milepost 67.7 in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County.
Wendel Road, also known as state Route 3069, which carries an average of 9,500 vehicles daily, has been closed since Feb. 26 for a bridge replacement project contracted to the Joseph B. Fay Co. of Tarentum by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The previous rigid-frame concrete structure that opened with the original 160-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike in October 1940 has been replaced with a longer concrete beam bridge.
The new bridge will open for traffic after a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Friday on the south side of the span. Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier will join Harhai for the event.
The turnpike needed to replace the bridge to accommodate a pending total reconstruction of Interstate 76, including a widening of the turnpike from two to three lanes each direction, between Irwin and New Stanton.
“This bridge is a vital connector among a number of communities along the turnpike,” Harhai said. “Thanks to the quick work of construction crews, we can bring some sense of normalcy back to the lives of residents who were impacted by the closure.”
The turnpike bid the job, which typically would have taken a full construction season and ended in late November, with an accelerated completion date of Aug. 31 because of local concerns raised about the pending closure during meetings that were part of the design phase.
Similar concerns and problems caused by motorists and truckers ignoring the official posted detour in favor of personal shortcuts around the construction site were discussed at a meeting held March 5 at the Turnpike’s Western Regional Office in New Stanton at Harhai’s request.
Brimmeier cited the “hard work of everyone involved” and some “innovative sequencing” of work by the contractor as the primary reasons for the early opening of the overpass.
“I worked with the Governor’s Office and the Turnpike Commission to secure $75,000, including $25,000 from the turnpike, to set up a temporary substation for emergency vehicles so that residents wouldn’t be cut off from emergency services,” Harhai said. “With this bridge being finished a month ahead of schedule, that will no longer be an issue.”
Harhai added, “The turnpike project is a necessary one and I’m glad that I was able to work with local and state officials to get this bridge reopened as quickly as possible.”
The five-member Turnpike Commission awarded the $3.24 million contract in December 2006 and Fay was given the formal Notice to Proceed on Jan. 9. A detour was set up for the planned closure on Feb. 19 but because of bad weather, traffic was permitted to use the bridge for an additional week.
Shawn Fay is president of Joseph B. Fay Co. Eric Klimas served as Fay’s project manager and Duayne Patterson was the contractor’s superintendent. ALCM of Belle Vernon, headed by Lou Rusciutto, served as construction manager. Other key players for ALCM were Enzo Cerceo, project manager, and Dave Hofbauer, resident engineer.
Turnpike supervision was provided by John Ozimok, construction engineer manager, John Pavlovich, project manager, Brad Heigel, design project manager, and Russ Freed, engineer. Parsons Brinkerhoff served as designer for the project. SAI was design manager. Michael Baker Jr. Inc. is the turnpike’s general consultant.
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