Next phase of Route 356 upgrade in Allegheny Township starts Monday, on White Cloud Road
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Construction tied to Route 356 in Allegheny Township will close a key side road beginning Monday.
White Cloud Road will close Monday, April 19 and remain closed for about a month.
The construction area is part of the $15.9 million Route 356 overhaul that started last year and won’t be finished until October 2022.
Allegheny Township Supervisor Ren Steele said residents will be allowed access to White Cloud Road; township police will monitor traffic heading there.
No large trucks will be permitted beginning Monday. Trucks will have to detour on Route 56 through Lower Burrell or New Kensington.
The completion of four short culvert bridges on White Cloud Road will result in occasional detours there.
This year’s work on Route 356 began about a month ago. PennDOT project manager Josh Zakovitch said work is going smoothly. The contractor is Ligonier Construction Co.
Hilly, winding sections of Route 356 will be widened, reconfigured and realigned from the Freeport Bridge to Pleasant Hill Road. The road as it’s configured now was built in the 1930s.
“There were lots of accidents on that road for many years,” Steele said.
Last year’s work added a truck climbing lane up to White Cloud Road.
Steele said motorists seem to be enjoying the extra lane.
“It’s great, and people seem very happy with it,” Steele said. “It’s amazing because it’s safer, and it eliminated being behind a slow truck.”
Steele said roads that intersect with Route 356 slated for blind spot and left-hand turning improvements are Bagdad, Armstrong, Indian Hill, Williams, Pleasant Hill and Piper roads.
“This project is a safety improvement project, and we are improving the sight distance (how far a motorist can see down the road when at a stop sign) and adding three new left-hand turn lanes,” Zakovitch said.
“Parts of the highway will be closed for a considerable amount of time when that happens,” Steele said. “I’m asking motorists to be patient, and 2022 isn’t that far away.”
Motorists may sign up for PennDOT email alerts that include construction updates and traffic advisories at penndot.gov. Choose the regional offices option and then District 12.