Hillside causes problems for drivers during heavy rains

PITTSBURGH — A hillside along Evergreen Road in Summer Hill is causing problems for drivers.

It turns into a waterfall during heavy downpours, is slowly eroding and has been a problem for several years.

Once Target 11 got involved, so did the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The city says a fix for the problem should be completed by the end of this year.

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A drainage pipe is broken and every time it rains, the water pours down the hillside in Summer Hill and onto Evergreen Road.

“It looks like Niagara Falls,” said Bob Miksa, who has lived in the neighborhood for 25 years. He says every time there's a hard rain, the problems get worse every year.

Miksa says it's led to accidents for drivers.

“I woke up in the morning and the barricade was all over the place, so he hit the barricade and broke it up,” Miksa said.

In April, Target 11 first contacted the city of Pittsburgh and representatives said it was PennDOT's problem because a pipe carrying runoff from the Parkway North had apparently ruptured.

PennDOT agreed to look into the issue.

The Department of Transportation didn't know what caused the damage to the pipe, but Target 11 learned it was investigating whether a PAT bus that crashed over the hills in 2014 may have contributed to the problem.

Whatever the case, the city of Pittsburgh wants it fixed.

On several days last week, Target 11 found crews shoveling rocks and debris and setting up barricades.

“We do have to watch it and clean it up, or close it down,” said Guy Costa, chief operations officer for the city of Pittsburgh.

PennDOT told Target 11 it will fix the pipe as part of the Parkway North construction project, and the city hopes it's done sooner rather than later.

“PennDOT's  assured us that it will be taken care of this year, and hopefully with this story, this will maybe move it up a little bit,” Costa said.

PennDOT hasn't given a timetable, but it told Target 11 a contractor has been hired to clean up after heavy rains so the city won't have to do that anymore.

Cox Media Group