Bridge Work on Thompson Run is Making Progress, Contractor Says

A bridge replacement project that has resulted in the closure of a part of Thompson Run Road since July is making progress toward its May reopening, the superintendent of the project said Wednesday.

The crew has had a generator and four pumps running day and night to empty creek water that has been pouring into the holes dug for the footer of the bridge, said Tony Lupi, the superintendent of the project for Pugliano Construction Co. Inc. 

"We'll be out of the water in the next week or so," he said. "This creek is an amazing little creek. Every time it rains, we get flooded." 

The project, which was originally scheduled to be completed in November, has run into numerous delays, . Thompson Run Road has been closed to all but local traffic just south of Amity Road. 

The Allegheny County Public Works Department is overseeing the project.

Lupi said the contractor is shooting for the May reopening of the road. 

"We're trying," he said. "We don't want to be here any longer than (the neighbors) want us to be here." 

"The rain this year hasn't been very favorable for this kind of work," he said. 

Gene Maire, who lives next to the construction, said he sympathizes with the contractor. 

"He's had nothing but problems here," he said. 

But he also sympathizes with the neighbors across the street, who haven't been able to use their driveway since the project started.

"For us, it hasn't been bad," Maire said, adding that a part of his yard is torn up, but he expects that to be repaired.

Instead, he's worried about the changes that will come once the new, wide bridge opens.

"This is working for us right now," he said. "People have to slow down to make the bend."