Planners hope to widen Route 981 between Mt. Pleasant and Norvelt
PennDOT planners hope by 2020 to start building a wider, less twisting two-lane Route 981 between Mt. Pleasant and Norvelt in Mt. Pleasant Township.
As Westmoreland County seeks a $25 million federal grant to help pay for the work, engineers are looking to refine a design for a project that includes building a new one-mile segment of Route 981 northwest of the existing right of way.
Environmental concerns, cost factors, construction logistics and a desire to minimize the impact on adjoining homes led planners to recommend the partial realignment, said John Petulla, project manager for PennDOT consultant McCormick Taylor.
A project map shows the new alignment parting from a curving portion of existing Route 981 just north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and rejoining it south of Waltons Lane. In Norvelt, the triangular intersection of Route 981 with Mt. Pleasant and Kecksburg roads would be changed into a roundabout, and the new road would break off from the existing road again for a shorter stretch, following an old trolley right of way.
PennDOT predicts the roundabout at 819 would result in 71 percent fewer vehicle crashes than if the intersection were controlled by a traffic signal and three times fewer crashes than if stop signs were installed.
“The off-alignment gave us a little more flexibility,” Petulla said. “It isn't the existing roadway. That really helped in minimizing the impact to properties and avoiding displacements.”
If the mile-long segment of improved highway stuck close to the current road, Petulla said, PennDOT would risk disturbing a former gas station site with an underground fuel tank that would have to be removed and cleaned up.
A different realignment could also disturb two areas where the soil had been contaminated in the 1970s and '80s from the dumping of byproducts from dry-cleaning chemicals.
Water lines were extended to residents whose wells were contaminated by the dumping, Petulla said. But digging into the ground there now for road construction could alter the course of the ground water drainage and “potentially cause a problem somewhere else.”
The planned realignment avoids the extra costs of dealing with those concerns and the problem of maintaining traffic flow during construction, he said.
Planners haven't pinpointed sites where the new alignment would tie into the existing one or ruled out where it might affect existing buildings, Petulla said.
It's too soon to estimate the cost of the project, he said.
Jason Rigone, director of Westmoreland County's planning division, said his office will assist the Route 981 project by seeking funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) discretionary grant program. Each project can apply for a maximum $25 million from the $1.5 billion pot, with no more than $150 million to be awarded in any single state.
The next public meeting to discuss the project is expected early in 2019. Meanwhile, updated information can be found at laurelvalleyproject.com .
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.
