Clearfield, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced the following schedule of maintenance activities in McKean County the week of August 26. PennDOT performs year-round maintenance in its mission to provide a safe, efficient transportation system, and the scope of work in McKean County for the coming week is as follows:

Bridge Maintenance & Cleaning

• Route 146 bridge between the intersection of Route 6 in Hamlin Township and Route 146 in Sergeant Township. Monday, August 26. This work will take place on the shoulder with minor roadway encroachment. PennDOT urges motorists to exercise caution and be alert for workers in the roadway.
• Route 246 at a bridge spanning Baker Run between the intersections of Route 246 and Baker’s Trestle Road in Otto Township. Tuesday, August 27. This work will take place on the shoulder with minor roadway encroachment. PennDOT urges motorists to exercise caution and be alert for workers in the roadway.
• Route 346 at a bridge spanning Kansas Branch between the intersections of Kansas Drive and Fizmon’s Road in Otto Township. Wednesday, August 28, and Thursday, August 29. This work will take place on the shoulder with minor roadway encroachment. PennDOT urges motorists to exercise caution and be alert for workers in the roadway.
• Route 546 at a bridge spanning Knapp Creek at the intersection of Gillispese Hollow Road in Otto Township. Friday, August 30. This work will take place on the shoulder with minor roadway encroachment. PennDOT urges motorists to exercise caution and be alert for workers in the roadway.

Pennsylvania has some of the oldest bridges in the country, with an age of more than 50 years on average. Preventive maintenance is vital in extending the life of the structures. As such, PennDOT maintenance crews perform some bridge deck patching and structural repairs.

Crack Seal & Hot Pour Mastic

• Route 1015 (Columbia Hill Road) between the intersections of Route 46 in Keating Township and Route 246 in Otto Township. Wednesday, August 28, through Friday, August 30. Flaggers in the roadway will provide traffic control during daylight hours.

Crack sealing and hot pour mastic operations prevent water intrusion from seeping through cracks or joints in an asphalt road, which can lead to potholes and pavement breakup. They are proactive preventive maintenance strategies to prevent water from entering the roadways and accelerating the formation of potholes and other failures.

Manual Patching

• Route 1015 (Columbia Hill Road) between the intersections of Route 46 in Keating Township and Route 246 in Otto Township. Monday, August 26, and Tuesday, August 27. Flaggers in the roadway will provide traffic control during daylight hours.

Most permanent pothole patching is completed in the spring/summer when temperatures stay consistently above freezing. If maintenance crews were not repairing potholes, the road surface would break up further and require more expensive corrective measures.

Pipe Replacing & Cleaning

• Route 59 between the McKean-Warren County line in Corydon Township and the intersection of Route 4003 (Bingham Road) in Lafayette Township. Monday, August 26, through Friday, August 30. Flaggers in the roadway will provide traffic control during daylight hours.

Pipe replacement and cleaning are essential in maintaining water flow around state roadways. Controlling water flow is one of the most important aspects of maintaining pavements. Uncontrolled water flow will damage both the pavement surface and the area under the pavement, which causes deterioration across the length of the pipe.

Vegetation Management

·         Route 219 from the Elk County line in Sergeant Township to the New York state line in Foster Township. Monday, August 26, through Friday, August 30. This work takes place off the roadway with little to no impact on traffic.

Mowing, herbicide spraying, and selected tree thinning help maintain a safe roadway free of obstructing vegetation, improving visibility to spot signage, traffic control devices, and other motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and animals approaching the road. Additionally, a well-maintained roadside can improve drainage and prolong the life of the roadway.

This schedule is subject to change due to weather conditions, emergencies, or other unforeseen interruptions.

Customers can report road concerns by calling 1-800-FIX-ROAD. If calling after hours, please leave a name and phone number.

For more information on PennDOT’s maintenance activities, visit www.PennDOT.pa.gov/about-us/maintenanceactivities.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.