Repairs to four Westmoreland County-owned bridges crossing sections of the Loyalhanna Creek are expected to be under construction in 2026, resulting in proposed road closures and detours, according to PennDOT planners.

The closures will also affect how emergency vehicles respond to some areas of Derry and Ligonier townships, but local fire officials say they’ll coordinate with neighboring departments to compensate.

County engineer Vaughn Neill said the county is partnering with PennDOT to carry out the federally-funded repairs, with state transportation designers taking the lead on the projects.

The longest official detour, using state roads, would be a nearly 11-mile reroute of traffic during closure of the Craigs Mill Bridge that carries Oasis Road over the creek at the border of Derry and Unity townships. That proposed detour calls for redirecting vehicles over portions of sections of routes 981, 22 and 119 and Latrobe Crabtree, Butz and McChesney roads.

Perhaps the most impactful detour is the closure of New Steele Bridge, which crosses the creek where North Ligonier Street in Latrobe becomes McFarland Road in Derry Township.

While an average of 825 vehicles cross the Oasis Road bridge each day, that figure is 2,200 for New Steele Bridge.

The latter bridge also stands between Latrobe and the Loyalhanna Continuing Care Campus, on the outskirts of the town.

The campus includes the 143-bed Loyalhanna Care Center nursing home and the Loyalhanna Senior Suites and Personal Care facility, which is licensed for occupancy of up to 84 residents.

“If there’s a major emergency, it will hinder our response getting across there,” Latrobe fire Chief John Brasile said of the bridge closure. Describing, in essence, the detour through part of Unity Township that is recommended by PennDOT, he said, “We’ll have to go out Latrobe-Crabtree Road and Longs Road and come over McFarland instead of a direct shot from the city over the bridge.”

Sanderson Bridge, which carries the other end of McFarland over the creek, to intersect with Longs Road, is another of the bridges that is targeted for repair. Since it is an essential part of the detour, it would not be closed at the same time as the New Steele Bridge, PennDOT said.

“We adapt to every situation, no matter what it is,” said Brasile. “You do what you have to do to make it work when it’s necessary to upgrade and refurbish the bridges.”

While the proposed detour would add a few miles to Latrobe firefighters’ route to the care center, Brasile said the department’s response time would not be so adversely affected because it has paid fire truck drivers who are on hand when an emergency call is received.

The Derry Township Fire Department, based in Bradenville, normally would send trucks through Latrobe to reach the Loyalhanna Care Center. According to fire Chief Mark Piantine, if the New Steele Bridge were closed, the volunteer department would have to detour through another area of Derry Township, by turning north on Route 981 and then using a side road — Red Cut Lodge or Derbytown roads.

“We know it’s going to be delayed,” Piantine said of a detour-affected response time. “All first responders are going to be delayed.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ll do what we have to do to get the job done.”

For many emergency situations at a large facility like the Loyalhanna campus, multiple fire departments likely would be dispatched.

“We just have to rely on our neighbors to help us,” Piantine said.

The fourth county bridge proposed for closure carries Idlewild Hill over the creek in Ligonier Township, near the intersection with Darlington Road. That bridge, one of the links between the village of Darlington and the divided Route 30 highway, also sees an average of about 2,200 vehicles each day, according to PennDOT.

Motorists wanting to head from Darlington to Route 30 could simply continue west on Darlington Road to its junction with the eastbound lanes of Route 30, just before the Longbridge crossing of the Loyalhanna.

To travel in the opposite direction, motorists who already are on the east side of Longbridge would continue east on Route 30, turning off on Two Mile Run Road and then following Ross Road to Darlington Road.

Depending on the particular bridge, planned work on the Loyalhanna Creek crossings may include repairs to the deck and possibly to the concrete substructure; reconstruction of abutment backwalls; replacement of expansion joints; construction of new approach slabs; installation of rock to control erosion.

All four of the involved bridges are in fair condition, according to 2022 inspections. PennDOT officials said the planned preservation work is the most cost-effective way to extend the useful lives of the bridges.

“If not addressed, additional deterioration will progress at an exponential rate, resulting in increased repair and maintenance costs that will become uneconomical to the point where replacements may become necessary,” according to PennDOT. “This project will reduce these costs for the county, allowing it to reallocate valuable economic resources to other needs throughout the community.”

Neill said such bridge work is more easily completed during a full closure of the span, but he noted input from local municipal officials and first responders would be considered as plans progress from the preliminary phase.

The plans can be viewed online by visiting penndot.pa.gov/RegionalOffices/district-12. Then select, in order: the “Design and Construction Projects” link on the right side of the page; the “Westmoreland County” block; the “Westmoreland County Local Bridge…” block.

The projects are expected to enter the final design phase in September of this year with construction contracts to be let in the fall of 2025.

Those unable to access the information online may contact project manager Cristin Covert at ccovert@pa.gov or 724-439-7155

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