Collapsing culverts along Export's Italy Road cause concern

As Export Councilman John Nagoda drives along Italy Road, he stops the car regularly to point out stone-block culverts, many of which date back to the 1930s.

Although a few of them look much the way they did when they first were built — large concrete boxes without a lid, about 3 feet square and roughly as deep — others are in a state of disrepair. The front walls of several have fallen over. One has had the front wall fall into the culvert itself. Farther up the road, another of the culverts has been completely filled in with earth and other material.

Nagoda becomes more agitated with each culvert he passes.

“Look at that,” said Nagoda, pointing to a culvert that is missing the front wall and is essentially a 3-foot-square hole in the ground. “If you go off the road and hit that, you're going to be in some serious trouble. The state needs to fix these.”

PennDOT took ownership of Italy Road nearly 85 years ago, in 1931. PennDOT Spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said most of the culverts were built in 1936, although some pre-date the state's ownership.

Petersen said she is not aware of any reported accidents related to the culverts.

Loretta Paha, however, is aware of such accidents.

Paha has lived in the 2000 block of Italy Road for more than four decades, with an open culvert at the edge of her property. She estimated the culvert has been struck by vehicles five or six times while she has lived in her home.

“It's been dangerous,” Paha said. “A deer fell down in there once about two years ago, and we had to call a game commission official to get it out.”

The culverts are particularly dangerous in bad weather, she said.

“Sometimes water gets across the road, and it will get icy (in the winter) if they don't salt it in time.”

Robert Susich grew up on the 5000 block of Italy Road, where his mother still lives. Susich said he remembers his father having to make repairs to the culvert at the edge of their yard.

“He actually fixed it himself and added some extra piping back in the day,” Susich said.

In early August, Petersen said PennDOT crews were working on Italy Road to flush the culvert pipes and clear obstructions.

“The culverts are functioning, and as of right now, we do not have any plans to replace them,” she said.

James Norris, who has lived on the 6000 block of Italy Road since 1993, disagreed.

“I can tell you this: those drains could really use some work,” Norris said. “A lot of them are in bad shape. They're beat up because of being hit.”

Nagoda said he would like the state to clean the culverts, rebuild the damaged ones and pave the road.

“It's a well-built road, and it needs maintained,” Nagoda said.

Norris said the state's stewardship of the road in general leaves quite a bit to be desired.

“They tar and chip the road a lot, and that beats your car up, especially a motorcycle like I have,” he said. “People also like to speed up and down the road, but it's so windy that it can be dangerous when you factor in things like animals.”

Both Norris and Susich agreed that winter maintenance also is lacking.

“Snow removal wasn't too bad this year, but we do always seem to be last on the list,” Norris said. “But the drains are the big thing … we're taxpayers just like the people down the road. It's a state road, and it really is beautiful, running between Murrysville, Washington Township and the Route 66 corridor. But there's a lot of room there for repairs.”

Patrick Varine is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-871-2365 or pvarine@tribweb.com.