$2M project to improve Zelienople Bridge, though some businesses report lost customers

ZELIENOPLE, Pa. — PennDOT crews have started work on a nearly $2 million preservation project on the Zelienople Bridge on Route 19.

This is going to be a project spanning several months, with traffic only able to go in one direction across the bridge.

It has many businesses like Hearth & Home, which is right at the start of the bridge, very frustrated.

“I’m skeptical about the whole thing,” said Nancy Reader, the owner of Hearth and Home on North Main Street.

Her daughter said they had already lost customers Wednesday morning.

“We had a phone call right out of the gate this morning from somebody who drove past, and they’re unable to get turned around and come back the other direction, so they just turned around and gave up,” said Megan Murphy of Hearth and Home.

She said all of Main Street will feel the impact.

“Thursday evenings, they do the street fair and festival every week, it’s going to directly affect traffic,” Murphy said.

From now through July 2, southbound lanes on the Route 19 bridge will be closed for preservation work.

Work resumes after July 4 and is expected to finish in August.

Hearth and Home said they first learned about the project from a Facebook post by Zelienople Police. They said a lack of direct notice from PennDOT is their biggest frustration.

“There was no direct communication to the business that’s right here affected by the closure, the road, our parking lot, no notice at all,” Murphy said.

Detour signs are posted around Northview Drive, but Murphy and her mom are worried about deliveries getting through.

“I mean, now that we’ve seen it, I think smaller trucks are going to be able to access through the detour, but our larger trucks, they don’t have a plan. They just said, ‘we’ll do the best we can,’ and that’s really not good enough,” Murphy said.

Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek asked PennDOT for an interview, but did not hear back.

For more information on the project, including listed detours, click here.

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