A section of a Ligonier Township road that has been closed for about five years will remain off-limits to traffic for several more months.

After hearing concerns about traffic safety, township supervisors voted this week to extend the closure of Myers School Road until late summer, after it has been resurfaced with tar and chips.

A 2-mile stretch of the road has been closed while Coal Loaders has been extracting remaining coal and reclaiming an old mining site.

The township had planned to reopen the road — which includes a gravel section — to motorists this spring, Township Manager Michael Strelic said. But he said he now concurs with Coal Loaders that it should stay closed until it has been restored with application of tar and chips.

Strelic said Coal Loaders is continuing to cross the road with slow-moving dump trucks.

“They’re done pulling out all the coal, but they’re still doing remediation,” he said.

Strelic expressed concern about motorists driving on the road in its current condition. He said speeding has been a problem there in the past, and a cliff bordering part of the road adds to the hazard.

The township supervisors suggested posting the road with 25 mph speed limit signs and installing a guardrail along the cliff.

Strelic said the guardrail is a good idea, “but not in the next month.” He said it would take some time for the township to apply for funding to pay for the rail.

He noted the local Ligonier Valley police aren’t able to enforce the speed by using radar.

Motorists have used Myers School Road as an alternate to adjoining Route 259, Strelic said.

“When Route 259 was shut down, that was the main route from the north to (Ligonier) borough,” he said. “It got a surprising amount of traffic.”

The supervisors voted 4-0 to keep the road closed until it is improved with tar and chips, after asking township emergency management coordinator Pat McDowell if he would recommend that move.

“Absolutely,” McDowell said, indicating part of the road is “still kind of dirt, still kind of shale. It needs some work, especially the hill in the middle.”

Ligonier Township and Coal Loaders each will cover the cost for improving part of the closed road, according to Strelic. The township will apply a single seal after placing tar and chips on its portion, while Coal Loaders’ section will be finished with a double seal, Strelic said.

“We haven’t maintained it for close to five years, so we’ve got some work to do out there,” he said.

Coal Loaders’ agreement for closure of Myers School Road was extended in 2022, with the company paying the township a lump sum of $3,000. The “drop dead” date for the road to be restored and reopened is Oct. 31, with the company to be assessed an additional $5,000 per month if the closure continues past that deadline.

Coal Loaders is “confident they can do it by the date they’re required to do it,” Strelic said. “They’d just rather keep it closed until it’s tarred and chipped. I agree with that.”

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