Category: News

I-79 Neville Island Bridge Weekend Lane Restrictions Begin Friday in Allegheny County

(Pittsburgh, PA) PennDOT District 11 is announcing weekend lane restrictions on the I-79 Neville Island Bridge in Glenfield Borough and Robinson and Neville townships, Allegheny County, will begin Friday night, July 22 weather permitting.

Single-lane restrictions in both directions on the I-79 Neville Island Bridge will occur Friday night at 8 p.m. continuously through Monday morning at 5 a.m. Crews will conduct bridge deck repair work.

The $43 million I-79 Neville Island Bridge Rehabilitation Project includes structural steel repairs, full structure painting, bearing and deck joint replacements, deck repairs and overlays, bridge barrier repair, substructure concrete work and drainage improvements.  The project also includes concrete roadway reconstruction, guide rail replacement and preservation work on four sign structures. Additionally, preservation work will occur on the I-79 bridge over Deer Run Road, north of the Neville Island Bridge.  Motorists will see ramp closures and single-lane and shoulder closures in each direction on I-79 during daylight off-peak and overnight hours. Other traffic impacts include four northbound weekend closures in 2021 and four southbound weekend closures in 2022. The overall project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023.

The Trumbull Corporation is the prime contractor.

To help keep motorists informed as work progresses, PennDOT has created an email distribution list for the I-79 Neville Island Bridge rehabilitation including traffic advisories and construction updates. Enroll by sending email addresses to stcowan@pa.gov. Please write “Subscribe – I-79” in the subject line.

Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, 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 twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website

Former Pitt Emergency Management Director Sentenced to Probation For Stealing PPE During the Pandemic

(File Photo)

(Pittsburgh, PA.) Former Director of Emergency Management at the University of Pittsburgh 43-year-old Christopher D. Casamento, of the Ross Township area was sentenced in federal court yesterday for Selling Stolen PPE during the pandemic.
United States District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed a sentence of 4 yeas of probation, 180 days of house arrest, and a fine of $4,000 for his conviction on Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. He was also ordered to make full restitution to the University of Pittsburgh. Casamento was the former Director of Emergency Management at the University of Pittsburgh and he was charged with stealing Personal Protective Equipment from the University, during the height of the Covid pandemic from February 28, 2020, to March 22, 2020. Casamento stole over 13,000 pieces of Aura N95 and other respirator masks and sold them from his eBay vendor page to buyers nationwide at excessive prices in February and March 2020. Casamento earned approximately $18,783.50.

Paving, Base Repair Work Underway in Beaver County

(File Photo)

(Pittsburgh, Pa.)  PennDOT District 11 is announcing paving operations and base repair work on various roadways in Beaver County, started Thursday, July 21.

Single-lane alternating traffic will occur daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through mid-December on the following roadways:

      • Big Knob Road (Route 1028) between Wallace City Road and Sunflower Road in New Sewickley Township
      • Lovi Road (Route 2006) between both ends of Freedom Crider Road in New Sewickley Township
      • Tuscarawas Road (Route 4028) between Fairview Road (Route 168) in Ohioville Borough and Brighton Road in Brighton Township

Crews from Lindy Paving will conduct milling and paving, base repairs, drainage improvements, guide rail upgrades, line painting, and other miscellaneous construction activities.

Motorists are advised to use caution, slow down and expect changing traffic patterns.  Work zone safety is everyone’s responsibility.

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 Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Allegheny, Beaver, and Lawrence counties at www.penndot.gov/District11.

Information about infrastructure in District 11, including completed work and significant projects, is available at www.penndot.gov/D11Results. Find PennDOT’s planned and active construction projects at www.projects.penndot.gov.

Follow PennDOT on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PennDOTNews and like the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PennsylvaniaDepartmentofTransportation and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot/.

Fern Hollow Bridge Beam Deliveries Begin Monday

(File Photo of A crane that was in place as part of clean up efforts at the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh that collapsed Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(Pittsburgh, Pa.)  The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and the City of Pittsburgh are advising motorists that starting Monday, July 25, superloads carrying beams for the Fern Hollow Bridge will be transported from Roaring Springs, Pennsylvania to Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh.

The first transport is expected to leave PennStress, a division of the MacInnis Group, LLC at 7 a.m. on Monday morning with the first of 14 beams for the reconstruction of the Fern Hollow Bridge. The superload will use multiple state routes through Blair, Cambria, and Armstrong counties before reaching Allegheny County on its 124-mile journey to the western side of the bridge located on Forbes Avenue at South Dallas Avenue.

Rolling closures will be used on various bridges along the route, as well as on Forbes Avenue. Pittsburgh Police will escort the superloads as they enter the city which may result in short term traffic stoppages and delays. Two beams a day are expected to be delivered through August 5. No deliveries will be made on weekends.

The prestressed concrete beams are approximately 150 feet long, eight feet high, and four feet wide. Each beam weighs approximately 100 tons. A total of 21 beams will be delivered with 14 being transported to the Squirrel Hill side of the project and the remaining beams delivered to the Regent Square side.

Below is the specific route the superloads will follow once they reach Allegheny County:

      • Southbound Route 28
      • Southbound I-579 over Veterans Bridge
      • Route 885 (Boulevard of the Allies)
      • Forbes Avenue

Additional details will be provided on the specific route along with restrictions prior to the deliveries using I-376 Parkway East and South Braddock Avenue.

Motorists are encouraged to “Know Before They Go” by checking conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles 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 Twitter alerts.

Follow PennDOT on Twitter and like the department on Facebook and Instagram.

Victim’s Identity Released That Was Killed in Hopewell Twp. Motorcycle Accident Near Shopping Center

(File Photo)

(Hopewell Twp., Beaver County< Pa.) Beaver County Coroner David Gabauer has released the name of the person who was killed on a motorcycle near the Hopewell Shopping Center on Wednesday night.
The coroner said a 23-year-old Christian Tyler McKenzie died in a crash.

Hopewell Township Police Chief Don Sedlacek  reported Friday morning that the motorcyclist Christian McKenzie of Coraopolis was riding his motorcycle along Brodhead Road when he clipped the rear left quarter panel(driver’s side) of a car as the driver left the Kuhn’s Market parking lot at Cherry Way on Wednesday night at 9 PM. McKenzie  died of blunt force trauma to the head, and his death was ruled  accidental, according to Beaver County Coroner David J. Gabauer.

PA State Police’s reconstruction team was called in to determine the cause of  the fatal accident, according to Chief Sedlacek. He said that the findings usually take several months to be finalized.

The Hopewell Police Department requested a state police accident reconstruction team to the scene to investigate.
Gabauer ruled McKenzie’s death as being accidental.

Noise Complaints, Citation Requests Headline New Brighton Borough’s Council Meeting

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

At the New Brighton Council Meeting on Thursday evening, a handful of citizens came to ask the council if there could be anything done about vehicles playing loud music, and if there were ordinances that could be levied in those regards.

The citizens were insisting that the noise could be heard from several streets or blocks away from Route 65, and that action taken against an issue could improve New Brighton drastically. As one citizen explained to the council: “In my past experience, when you address these issues–these quality of life issues–they tend to take care of a whole lot of problems that might arise.” Borough Manager Tom Albanese said that noise/nuisance ordinances do exist in the city, but spoke no further of any changes.

The council approved the payment of $505,933.19 in bills for this meeting, with a reimbursement of $20,611.14 from other funds. The General Government Committee approved John Hancock as Pension Plan Administrator, as well as approving alcohol sales for the outdoor seating area at the Quality Time & Carry Out Restaurant on 3rd Avenue.

Following a 13-minute executive session by the Public Safety Committee on personnel matters, the council reconvened with the public and approved–through the Public Works Committee–the removal of 81 streetscape trees in downtown New Brighton at a cost of $5,000, as well as the purchase of a new Caterpillar backhoe loader. The Recreation & Community Life Committee received approval for the shutdown of 1st Avenue and Big Rock Park for the “Taste Of The Town” event on August 20.

The last major element to Thursday’s meeting was a request by Council Vice President John C. Ramer for the Borough to be more aggressive with citations to unfinished projects and requests. “I don’t know why we can’t give out–instead of a letter–give out a warning citation,” Ramer said. “I think a couple citations is going to stop a lot of this stuff…and it’s going to make the town look a hell of a lot better.”

The next New Brighton Council Meeting will take place on Thursday, August 18.

John Perrotto Talks About The Pirates’ Changes & Chances In The Second Half Of The 2022 Season

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Back in February, it almost looked as if there would be no MLB games in 2022. Now the season is halfway over.

At the halfway point, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 39-54 and sitting in third place in the NL’s Central Division. Beaver County freelance sportswriter John Perrotto joined Matt Drzik on the July 21 edition of A.M. Beaver County to talk about the Pirates’ second half of the season, along with how they got to this point with everything that happened in the first half of the 2022 season.

In Perrotto’s eyes, the strength of the Pirates so far this year is their offense. He noted that the Pirates had the fewest amount of home runs in the 2021 MLB season with 124–20 fewer than the 29th-best Diamondbacks (144), and that they have nearly matched that with 97 in the first half. But on the other hand: “I think where they fall short is pitching,” he countered. “I don’t think they still have enough quality starting pitching to be a contending team. The bullpen has been okay, the starting pitching needs work.”

The Pirates aren’t the only team struggling in Major League Baseball this season; twelve of the 40 teams sit below the .500 mark with eight of those twelve having yet to reach 40 wins in the first half. Perrotto points to the system of financial success as the main culprit: “Unless you really feel you can make the playoffs, there’s no incentive to even try and put a good team together because you gain more from losing than you do from being just okay,” he added. “That’s something that neither the players nor the owners fixed in the collective bargaining agreement that they signed in March.”

The Pirates open their second half hosting the Miami Marlins on Friday night (July 22) at PNC Park. Coverage begins on Beaver County Radio at 6:40, and first pitch is at 7:05.

To hear the full interview with John Perrotto, click on the play button below!

VIDEO: Neighborhood North Hosting “Community Play Day” On July 23

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

“I think you have both–a variety of different ways of being involved, and also allowing kids to just explore on their own.”

Both will be on display on Saturday, July 23 as Neighborhood North: Museum Of Play will be hosting a “Community Play Day” at their facility on 8th Avenue in Beaver Falls. Executive director Christine Kroger joined Matt Drzik on the July 21 edition of A.M. Beaver County to preview the weekend fun.

The event will be from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM, and feature a variety of activities and activity tools for kids and participating adults to work together on. There will be outdoor and indoor activities, and there will be plenty of water for everyone participating to stay hydrated on what looks to be a humid summer day.

For the full preview with Christine Kroger, click on the Facebook feed below!

Discussing The Shortage Of Essential Service Employees With Commissioner Jack Manning

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

“It’s a calling for most people, and a lot of people aren’t seeing or feeling the calling to get into that line of work.”

One week after displaying his feelings on the situation regarding the declining numbers of essential service members–police officers, EMT, firefighters among them–in Beaver County, first-term Commissioner Jack Manning dove deeper into the conversation with Matt Drzik on the July 20 edition of A.M. Beaver County. Manning said that the lacking numbers are “not a severe crisis, but it’s getting there.”

Manning noted that there was a decline in traditional jobs that affected industry back in the 2000s, but an upward trend in the trades came in Beaver County with an invested interest in the Shell Cracker Plant in Shippingport. “I think we need to take a similar approach for people that want to get into the public safety realm. We need to convince people that being a police officer is a great career,” Manning stated. “So we’ve got to start reaching into the schools at an early age; having those kinds of career counseling and job fairs that promote that, and fire departments, and all of the medical opportunities that come out of that…those are good honorable jobs.”

A step in that direction came later that day with the grand opening of the CCBC Center For Public Safety, but Manning acknowledges that the turnaround will be a multi-year process. “I’m hoping that we’ve bottomed out,” he added. “I think we’ll be on the rise, but I’ll be honest–everybody’s competing for the same talent…and it’s gonna be how quickly we respond…I think it’s going to take a while. It may take five or ten years for us to get to the fully staffed level again.”

To hear the full, uncut interview with Jack Manning, click on the play button below.