Old William Penn Highway to close for bridge replacement

Contractors do not yet have a firm date, but Old William Penn Highway will close for roughly a month and a half this fall for the replacement of a bridge carrying the road over Turtle Creek in Murrysville.

Murrysville council awarded a $170,000 bid last week to Kukurin Contracting in Washington Township to replace the decking on the bridge near the intersection of Old William Penn Highway and Hills Church Road.

The bridge’s weight limit, having been initially reduced to 16 tons in 2022, was further reduced to 6 tons earlier this year.

Kukurin was the low bidder among four contractors vying for the project. It will stabilize the bridge temporarily and bring its weight rating back to 16 tons as municipal officials cast an eye toward a more permanent fix.

Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico said the project is likely to start in the fall, although he did not have a firm start date. It is estimated to take about 45 days and will include the full closure of Old William Penn Highway.

An approximately 2-mile detour will bring drivers around the area via Cline Hollow and Hills Church roads.

“It will certainly be an inconvenience, but hopefully the project will move along smooth and wrap up later this fall,” Nestico said.

The weight rating reductions were the result of periodic inspections by Pittsburgh-based SAI Engineering, contracted by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The weight reduction to 6 tons primarily affects school buses, large truck traffic and fire trucks.

Council voted 4-0 to award the contract. Council members Jason Lemak, Carl Stepanovich and Matt Olszewski were not in attendance.

Capital improvements

Council also voted 4-0 to approve the 2025-‘29 capital improvement plan, a guiding document laying out large-scale projects ofor the next five years.

Some projects include the Logan Ferry-Heather Highland bridge project, a dozen new police vehicles, 10 new public works vehicles, and ongoing parks improvements.