WEST KITTANNING -- Residents attending an open house last night got an earful and an eyeful of the plans being considered for the West Kittanning Bridge replacement project.
PennDOT and design consultants spent more than two hours Tuesday answering questions and explaining the project, slated to begin in 2008, to more than 75 people from Kittanning, West Kittanning, and Applewold who came out to see the plans.
Rick Hogg, District 10 Engineer, said, "We want to understand the concerns and the needs of the residents now while we are still in the design phase, so that we can work to help eliminate problems before the final design is laid out."
Hogg said the bridge project, along with a project to resurface and widen Butler Road through West Kittanning, will make "quite an improvement to the area and make traveling through the area safer."
The $8 million project will see the current bridge structure demolished and a new, three-lane bridge built along the hillside, including a sidewalk. A second component of the project will include widening Butler Road through the town's business district and will include the redesign of the Arthur Street and Linde Road intersection to eliminate one of the two current traffic lights at the intersection.
Also being discussed in the plans, according to PennDOT is a traffic light at the intersection of Butler Road and Pony Farm Road and the idea of limiting traffic on Pine Hill Road to only allow vehicles to travel up the hill.
The bridge project is expected to take two years to complete, while the improvements along Butler Road are to take one year, project officials said. Traffic would be able to use the Kittanning Bridge to access Applewold and Tarrtown Road during the project.
However, during the construction of the bridge, PennDOT plans to improve the intersection at the western side of the Kittanning Bridge to allow traffic from Applewold and Tarrtown Road to flow more effectively. Preliminary studies done include the idea of a traffic light at the intersection.
Mike Rozich, the roadway project manager for PennDOT, said the agency has been working with all the various local, county and state officials to help facilitate the project due to the impact on the area while construction is completed.
"We want to complete the entire project as quickly and effectively as possible, while at the same time, limiting the effects on the residents and businesses along the project's path," he said.
Several people crowded around maps and blueprints, asking questions about the project and offering comments.
Chuck Nicely of Applewold said, "this project is long overdue and I think it will be a great improvement to the area."
Nicely, who also belongs to Applewold and East Franklin Township fire departments, said project officials are planning meetings with the local emergency services to help develop plans for incidents that may occur during the construction and planned detours.
"My only concern with the project is that Applewold will be bearing the brunt of the traffic through our town," he said. "They are going to have to do something to help police all those cars and trucks coming through."
The official detour for the project is South Water Street to Route 422/28 across the Graff Bridge and back into West Kittanning via Route 268.
Information about the project can be viewed online at www.westkittanningbridge.com or by contacting Project Manager Jim Andrews at PennDOT District 10's office in Indiana at 724-357-2080.
