Shaler Township road closed for repairs, paving
Another closure has begun on a busy North Hills road.
“It’s just like never-ending construction, and now they’re doing this,” said Bethany McClure.
Bethany McClure has been living on Vilsack Road in Shaler Township for seven years.
“I wake up one day, and I see the guy come with the cones,” said McClure.
Crews will be focusing on improving drainage. To get the work done quickly, Vilsack will be closed between Morewood Road and Mt. Royal Boulevard beginning on Monday, April 29. It’s only about a half a mile. Drivers will have to use Mt. Royal Boulevard, Thompson Run Road and West Sutter Road. Residents will still be able to get to their homes.
>> Traffic restrictions planned for Shaler Township road
“It’s been pretty frequent with replacing the gas lines and replacing the water line,” said Paul Hoydich. “But they maintain the road. It’s probably been remilled and paved two or three times at least since I’ve lived here.”
Back in February, Peoples Gas replaced old pipeline. That project created very heavy backups. And in 2022, a $1.4 million bridge replacement project closed a section of Vilsack for several months. The only other county road project in the works right now in Shaler is the Wible Run Bridge project. It’s currently in the design phase.
This current drain project on Vilsack Road is one of eight in the county under one contract. The total cost for all eight projects is $5.6 million. Allegheny County Department of Public Works Public Information Officer Brent Wasko says Vilsack is the third-longest stretch of road in this contract. Vilsack and two other roads in the contract are being milled and paved. Four are being chip sealed and two roads are only getting drainage improvements.
“I mean, it’s liveable,” said McClure. “I know they have to do it. I don’t want to live somewhere where my taxes aren’t being spent on maintenance.”
“This is a pretty well-maintained road,” said Hoydich. “I mean, the county in the wintertime, always maintains it. Probably one of the most traveled roads from what I understand in the North Hills, but they do a really nice job of taking care of everything.”
The full closure is only expected to last about a week. But after they reopen Vilsack, there will still be periodic lane closures through the end of October. That’ll be for milling and paving, base repairs, shoulder work, other drain improvement work and guide rail replacement.
Channel 11 also checked in with Shaler Area School District. The district says this closure is going to impact bus pickup for about 15 students. Students assigned to the stop at the intersection of Lucille and Vilsack have been reassigned to the intersection of Morewood and Lucille. Students who get picked up in front of their homes in the 100 block of Vilsack will temporarily get picked up at the intersection of Mt. Royal and Morewood.
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