A major road repair project in Sewickley Heights is closer to fruition following the approval of state funds.
Backbone Road has been closed since landslides in mid-April 2024 caused significant damage to it between Little Sewickley Creek Road and Grouse Lane in Bell Acres.
The area got so bad that portions of the road, including guide rails, spilled down the hillside and onto Little Sewickley Creek, a state road.
Sewickley Heights public works and PennDOT crews have been out several times since the closure to clean up the area.
The borough applied for about $990,000 through the state Department of Community & Economic Development’s Local Share Account. No borough match is required.
State officials on Dec. 18 announced more than $3 million in state funding was approved for community projects across Allegheny County, including Sewickley Heights’ request.
Borough Manager Nate Briggs said he expected to get official notification sometime in January.
The borough will front the cost of design work, construction and related expenses and the state will reimburse those costs.
“It’s good news,” Briggs said on Dec. 19. “It would obviously alleviate pressure everywhere in the region and the north communities there. Alleviate stress on some other smaller roads, a gravel road that’s taken a lot of traffic now. It would provide a more immediate connection for Bell Acres residents and Sewickley Heights going out that way. It’s a big connection.”
Travelers have used Camp Meeting Road and Sevin Road to get around the closure.
The work ahead
Sewickley Heights worked with GeoStabilization International to come up with initial repair plans and other details as part of the grant application.
Borough officials connected with the firm while the company was working with Buckeye Partners to address another 2024 landslide in the borough along Barberry Road that impacted a Buckeye petroleum pipeline.
Briggs said engineers will move forward with a reevaluation and put together a bid package in the coming months.
The hope is to put the project out for bid in March, award it in June and start construction sometime in early July.
Construction is expected to take at least a month.
“There’s a lot of moving parts in there,” Briggs said. “That’s the potential timeline. If everything aligns, that would be the earliest possible.”
State push
Both state Sen. Devlin Robinson and state Rep. Valerie Gaydos visited the Backbone Road site and pushed for the grant funding.
“The challenge with landslides in Western Pennsylvania is that they are extremely prevalent and there is no real clear source of dedicated funding to pay for these types of costly repairs,” Gaydos said on Dec. 21. “So, for each incident we have to dig around to find the best way the commonwealth can cobble together sufficient funding.”
Gaydos and state Rep. Emily Kinkead have been working closely to make such a fund.
Their bipartisan bill to create a state-run landslide and sinkhole insurance program within the Department of Community and Economic Development passed the state House in late September. It is unclear when the Senate might consider it.
Neighboring support
Sewickley Heights’ grant application was also supported by letters from Bell Acres officials.
Bell Acres Councilwoman Michelle Veeck said first responders, such as Valley Ambulance, said it takes 12 minutes or longer to arrive in the neighborhoods near Sewickley Heights Golf Club as a result of the road closure.
“(It) is an urgent matter to repair the road as soon as possible,” Veeck said via email on Dec. 22. “The only option now for those first responders is Sevin Road, (which) is so precarious it has guiderails.”
Bell Acres Borough Manager Lisa Fleming said the grant award is a testament to what can be accomplished when local municipalities and state officials work together to strengthen communities.
“As a neighboring borough that’s deeply connected and directly impacted by the closure of Backbone Road, our community is excited about the restoration and future opening that will, once again, provide valuable access for the residents of Bell Acres,” Fleming said via email Dec. 22.
