Closures slated for road work in Mt. Pleasant Borough, Township

PennDOT on Monday, July 8 plans to close a section of Route 981 in Mt. Pleasant Township as work continues on the Laurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project.

The closure — between Fox Run and Hecla roads — and a resulting detour are expected to be in place until late July.

Farther south in Mt. Pleasant Borough, a briefer closure of about a week also is set to begin on Monday, as the borough street crew repairs a sinkhole on North Church Street.

In the township, contractor Walsh Construction will eliminate a curve in Route 981, as it ties the road’s newly constructed alignment into a recently completed roundabout intersection with Hecla Road and State Street. The roundabout also provides access to the Mt. Pleasant Area Junior High and Senior High complex on State.

The posted detour will redirect motorists along Routes 819, 31 and 982 and Kecksburg Road.

The road work near the roundabout is part of the first and southernmost phase of the $55.2 million Laurel Valley project.

The overall project is designed to improve safety and traffic flow on the Route 981 corridor between Route 819 in Mt. Pleasant Township and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. The project involves softening curves in the road, improving intersections and shifting to new alignments in some sections of the corridor.

The project’s southern phase stretches between Route 819 and a point south of the village of Calumet in Mt. Pleasant Township. It involves construction of an additional roundabout in the village of Norvelt.

PennDOT planners anticipate completing that phase in September.

Borough Manager Sharon Lesko said the borough closure will affect a section of North Church near the intersection of Orchard Avenue. A local detour will be posted and temporary signs will alert trucks not to turn onto the street.

Lesko said the sinkhole resulted from a collapsed pipe underneath the street.

“We’re going to be replacing the pipe the whole way across the street,” she said.

“That’s a state road,” borough Solicitor Les Mlakar said of Church. “However, the Department of Transportation takes the position that anything that causes a sinkhole underneath is the municipality’s responsibility.”