PennDOT spent $925,000 fixing four landslides impacting state-maintained roads in Plum this year.

The work on Old Leechburg, Milltown, Leechburg and New Texas roads inconvenienced drivers who had to take detours or find other ways around as the slides were repaired and the roads were rebuilt and resurfaced.

The four roads have all since reopened.

According to PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan, the most expensive slide to repair was on Leechburg Road, which cost $450,000. That was followed by New Texas, $250,000; Milltown, $150,000; and Old Leechburg, $75,000.

While all are state roads, they affect the borough, according to Mike Doyle, president of Plum Council.

“That’s a lot of money,” he said. “As a borough, we definitely want to thank PennDOT for helping us out with that. If not, I don’t know what we would have been able to do. Their partnership with us is greatly appreciated.”

PennDOT first restricted Leechburg Road near Elicker Road to a single alternating lane controlled by a temporary traffic signal when a slide began to undermine the roadway in June. That happened while the road was part of the detour route after New Texas Road was closed for slide repair.

Work on Milltown was the last to be completed, with the road reopening Oct. 19 after three separate slides were repaired between Shearer and Barnes roads.

Cowan could not say whether any other slides will be fixed in Plum next year.

“The 2024 schedule for repairs is still in the planning stages,” he said.

Doyle said he was not immediately aware of any other borough roads needing slide repairs.

One slide that is unlikely to be repaired is on Webster Road, where Cowan said damages were first seen in the mid-2000s, and the road closed permanently in 2008.

Cowan said repairing and reopening the road would cost more than $2 million.

“The landslide on Webster Road is not currently on our plans for repair because of the cost of the design and repair would be significant,” said Nicole Haney, another PennDOT representative. “The district does not have the available funding to address this concern at this time.”

Doyle said he had been unaware of how long Webster Road has been closed. He didn’t want to say the road is a lost cause.

“That’s something we have to talk to our engineers and staff about,” he said.

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