Another Route 356 closure planned for next year

Allegheny Township officials are warning motorists and residents of major closures along Route 356 next summer.

As work on the connector to Freeport and the Allegheny Valley expressway wraps up for this year, the project in 2022 will impact residents along the Route 356 corridor.

Work will start on either April 1 or June 1. PennDOT District 12 officials will meet with Allegheny Township supervisors and other officials in early January to determine which intersections will be closed — and when — during construction and how residents along Route 356 will access their homes.

Highway officials have yet to determine if the road upgrade project will begin at Piper Road or White Cloud Road.

Tentative plans are to allow right turns onto Route 356 for residents of Garvers Ferry, Armstrong and Williams roads heading toward Weinels Crossroads.

Residents of those roads traveling to Freeport might have to go back toward White Cloud and make a left onto Route 356 to head toward Freeport or Route 28.

Tractor-trailers and other heavy vehicles would be channeled onto White Cloud Road. Parcel delivery trucks to Garvers Ferry, Armstrong and Williams would have to access those roads via White Cloud.

On the opposite side of Route 356, closures are expected on the Indian Hill and Piper road intersections during construction.

“It could be a nightmare,” said Steve Kanas of the township’s public works department.

Kanas said PennDOT has suspended public displays and open houses to explain projects during the covid pandemic.

“When the climbing lane from the Freeport Bridge to White Cloud was planned, the state had maps all over the supervisors’ meeting room,” Kanas said. “Now, with covid, they couldn’t have any public meetings.”

Kanas also will meet with officials from Ligonier Paving Co., the firm doing the work this year on Route 356 closer to the Weinels Crossroads section of the township.

Kanas told supervisors Monday he hopes Ligonier Paving will use some of the money existing in a road bond to put a temporary fix on Piper Road, which is used extensively by motorists coming from Leechburg and West Leechburg.

Public works officials are hoping for some remedial work to be done near the intersection of Piper and Route 356, so at least snow removal can be done this winter.

Supervisor Ren Steele indicated a turning lane will be installed soon for motorists coming from Freeport to use while making a right onto White Cloud, and deck work will be done on the White Cloud Road bridge spanning Route 56 near the Bonfire Restaurant.

Kanas also said some damage was done to Williams Road this summer with about 15,000 to 18,000 vehicles avoiding the Route 356 project, much more than the rural road was built for.