LIGONIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A two-mile stretch of Myers School Road in Ligonier Township has been closed for nearly five years. Some who live in the area want it to stay that way.
“We want it closed,” said one neighbor who lives just off of Myers School Road. “We want it to stay closed. We don’t want it reopened.”
He didn’t want to go on camera, but he said things have been better in his neighborhood with the road shut down.
“When it was open before, Myers School Road was a racetrack. This intersection? They wouldn’t stop for the stop signs, they’d blow through there going 65 to 70 miles per hour. Since it’s been closed, it’s been quiet back here.”
The road has been closed while Coal Loaders – a local coal company – worked on reclaiming a mine there.
All of the coal has now been taken out, but some remediation work is still wrapping up, according to Ligonier Township Manager Michael Strelic.
Strelic declined to go on camera but told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek the plan is to have the road reopened by late August.
Another neighbor thinks reopening will be a good thing.
“Personally, it would be convenient for us just to get to the diamond and to the school quicker,” she said. “When you have kids in school, any minute saved is a great minute. I have mixed emotions, but I think if it could be open it would be a wonderful thing.”
There’s a lot of work to do on the road before that happens. The township hasn’t kept up with maintenance since the coal mining has been going on. Some of the road has crumbled away into the stream.
Bids will go out this week to tar and chip the road – and potentially add a guard rail along the cliff.
Strelic said the cost would be split between the township and the coal company.
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