Aiken Road Extension reopens in Kennedy Township

KENNEDY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Back in February, Channel 11 showed you a road slip along Aiken Road Extension that kept getting worse. But now, the work is done and the project is finished ahead of schedule.

The day Kennedy Township residents have been waiting for has finally arrived: Aiken Road Extension has officially reopened after a landslide years ago, followed by multiple attempts to fix the slip.

The concrete barriers that drivers had to navigate around have been finally replaced by a guiderail and much more.

Before the Road Closed signs came down on Monday, the township’s public works supervisor gave Channel 11 a closer look at the work that was done, showing us what, specifically, will prevent the road from slipping again.

“It’s not your normal retaining wall. The old retaining wall that you see here is kind of like what you see at people’s houses,” Justin Gutt said. “They did test drilling through the entire road, all the way over to that berm over there. They put big steel rods underneath the road to anchor into the pavement.”

Township manager Greg Clarke said the road and surrounding land was repaired using $383,000 of grant money, with township tax dollars having to account for the balance. Township officials said hundreds of vehicles use this road every day, and for most of them, it’s been a long time coming for lots of people.

“It’s not just Kennedy and Robinson. There’s a lot of people within the communities that use this road,” Clarke said. “It should alleviate some of the traffic on 60 and obviously on clever road.”

“They’re really excited to get this open,” said Mel Weinstein, Kennedy Township tax collector & treasurer. “The school district, of all, won because their buses go through here. It’s a shortcut to make it, and they get to school on time.”

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