MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — PennDOT has been working on shoring up the hillside above Beaver Grade Road in Moon Township for about two months now. They’ve secured steel bars into the hill and have positioned millions of pounds of rocks. Despite all this work, there’s still a lot more that needs to be done.
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An orange fence stretches behind a handful of homes in the Sonoma Ridge community as work continues on the hillside below.
“PennDOT’s primary concern is to get in there and shore it up,” said Rep. Valerie Gaydos (R-Allegheny).
State Representative Valerie Gaydos has been keeping a close eye on this project in her district.
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“Certainly a first-time homebuyer, having a house and having the entire backyard fall down into the ravine is just so traumatic,” said Gaydos.
So far, PennDOT has placed more than 36 million pounds of rock. It looks like the entire project is going to cost around $4 million. Channel 11 also learned that PennDOT is going to have to rebuild about 1,000 feet of Beaver Grade Road and shift it away from the rock slope.
“The secondary thing is who’s going to pay for that work to be done?” asked Gaydos. “Right now, it will be up to those parties involved to determine what share of the costs go to what entity if at all or if the state is going to step in.”
Josh Brown represents the Sonoma Ridge Homeowner Association. He says PennDOT has made significant progress and that conversations continue about the financial side of this project.
“We’re optimistic about the long-term trajectory here, and we think we’re going to have a good resolution,” said Josh Brown. “We’re not there yet, but we think we will be in the very near future.”
Meanwhile, Gaydos is hopeful her proposed bill focused on landslide assistance will pass. It’s currently with the Environmental Resource Committee.
“The legislation that we’re working on which is House Bill 589 will provide landslide insurance and low-interest loans to both municipalities and individuals,” said Gaydos. “This is the type of thing that government is for. Because these are huge projects, and they impact a lot of citizens .”
Beaver Grade Road is going to continue to be closed throughout this project. The entire project is not expected to be finished until late this summer.
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