Fixes for 7 landslides in Upper Burrell to cost more than $400,000

Upper Burrell is trying to find money to fix seven landslides on Lower Drennan Road that are estimated to cost more than $400,000.

The township just applied for a $317,000 grant from the federal government via Sen. Bob Casey’s office. The township would need to kick in a $93,000 match, said David Kerchner, the township’s engineer.

“It’s tough to get grant money for road slides,” he said.

The township also has an application pending with Westmoreland County for a piece of its federal Community Development Block Grant to pay for the most critical of the seven slides, he said.

Generally, there’s a lot of clay under the soil along Lower Drennan, which makes the area vulnerable to slides, Kerchner said.

Although heavy rains contributed to at least 270 landslides throughout the region in 2019, the Lower Drennan slides started at different times. Heavy rains over the years have exacerbated the slides, Kerchner said.

Six of the seven slides are bad enough that the township has reduced the road to single-lane traffic.

“One slide has the potential to worsen to close the road,” Kerchner said.

If just one of the slides worsens, it could close the road, affecting access by school buses and emergency vehicles, Kerchner said.