The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 5 announced earlier this week that work to remediate a recent rock slide along US 209/Mauch Chunk Street in Mahoning Township, Carbon County is scheduled to begin next week.
“We have hired a contractor, and anticipate work beginning next Tuesday,”
Assistant Construction Engineer John Harmonosky said. “The work is expected to take a little over three weeks.”
Work is scheduled to begin Tuesday, October 10, and will entail full closures of US 209 north and south on weekdays (Mondays through Fridays) between the hours of 9 AM and 2 PM. During these full closures, US 209 traffic will be detoured on Packerton Dam Road, Hemlock Drive, PA 902, South 9th Street, PA 443, US 209, Harrity Road, Fairyland Road, Long Run Road, Maury Road, and
PA 903.
A single lane will be open on US 209 north and south weekdays from 2 PM to 9 AM and from 2 PM Fridays through 9 AM Mondays.
“We have hired a contractor, and anticipate work beginning next Tuesday,”
Assistant Construction Engineer John Harmonosky said. “The work is expected to take a little over three weeks.”
Work is scheduled to begin Tuesday, October 10, and will entail full closures of US 209 north and south on weekdays (Mondays through Fridays) between the hours of 9 AM and 2 PM. During these full closures, US 209 traffic will be detoured on Packerton Dam Road, Hemlock Drive, PA 902, South 9th Street, PA 443, US 209, Harrity Road, Fairyland Road, Long Run Road, Maury Road, and
PA 903.
A single lane will be open on US 209 north and south weekdays from 2 PM to 9 AM and from 2 PM Fridays through 9 AM Mondays.
“The closures are necessary to protect the public from any rocks that may fall during the scaling work, and provide the contractor space to safely maneuver equipment,” Inspector-in-Charge Calvin Ulshafer said. “We intend to get this work done as safely and quickly as possible.”
Workers will remove fallen rock from the roadway, scale back and remove additional rock from the mountain, install mesh netting to help prevent future rocks from falling, mill and pave US 209 north in the work area, and perform other ancillary work.
On September 8, multiple large rocks slid off the side of the mountain alongside US 209 between Race Street and Oak Avenue. Since then the two-lane section of US 209 north going up Flagstaff Mountain (“Mansion House Hill”) has been reduced to a single lane. When this work is complete the second lane on US 209 north will re-open.
This section of US 209 has an average daily traffic volume of 9,814 vehicles.
New Enterprise Stone & Lime, Inc. of New Enterprise, Pa., is the general contractor on the $354,103 emergency project that is expected to be complete by October 27.