Contractor Aiming for Nov. 18 Completion of Box Culvert Construction on Route 403 (Tire Hill Road) in Somerset County

​The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has provided an update on the Route 403 (Tire Hill Road) Restoration Project in Somerset County, with lead contractor, Plum Contracting, Inc., of Greensburg, planning to have one of the final phases of the project completed by Nov. 18.

The contractors are planning to complete the construction of a box culvert about 500 feet north of the intersection of Kring Street and Soap Hollow Road by Nov. 18.

The work requires the road to be closed at the site - meaning traffic cannot travel directly from the intersections of Route 403 and Kring Street and Soap Hollow Road on the southern end to Route 985 and Ferndale Avenue on the north end. The present posted detours will remain in place for the duration of the project, and motorists will have the same access to homes and businesses as they did during the previous closure.

The previous road closure had Route 403 (Tire Hill Road) closed near Greenhouse Park since April after heavy rains washed away a retaining wall at the site. Replacement of the retaining wall had been included in the original plan, but closure of the road had to be pushed up from the anticipated date due to the washout.

On Oct. 25, the retaining wall was completed and section of Route 403 (Tire Hill Road) near Greenhouse Park was reopened under weekday, single-lane restrictions with a flagger during daylight working hours, and with both lanes open during evening hours and on the weekends. Some work still needs completed in the area of the retaining wall, such as guide rail updates, which the contractor planes to have finished by early November.

The $14.5 million project is expected to be completed in November 2024 and is weather dependent. It includes 6.5-miles of pavement preservation, milling, resurfacing, guide rail and drainage upgrades, and new signage and pavement markings. New curbing and sidewalks will be installed, along with upgrades to traffic signals, box culvert replacements, the new retaining wall near Greenhouse Park, RC arch culvert and RC slab bridge preservations, several roadway slope stability improvements, and tree trimming and tree removal. All of the work will occur within a 13-mile stretch of Route 403 from Tire Hill to Hooversville.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon, and Somerset counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District9.

Information about infrastructure in District 9, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.pa.gov/D9Results. Find PennDOT's planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

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