Harmony Township community concerned over road shifting, dropping several feet after heavy rain

It was in the beginning of April when people who live in one Beaver County community started noticing that their road was shifting, and then after all the heavy rain, it went from dropping a few inches to a few feet.

“It just came out of nowhere really,” said Greg Nicoletti. “We had a super torrential rain. It rained for like 24 hours straight, and then the next day it dropped three feet.”

“As long as the house is not sliding, it’s not really an emergency for us,” said Tyrone Miller.

Tyrone Miller and his family live on Woodland Road in Harmony Township. He says as of right now this is just an inconvenience.

“This one little space is separating us from leaving off the street,” said Miller.

Woodland Road is a dead-end. Because of the slide, Harmony Township improved the once dirt road that runs along the Harmony Ridge Golf Course so emergency responders could still access the homes on that side of the slide, and people could get out of the neighborhood. It’s affecting about 40 families.

“It’s one lane through the woods,” said Miller. “Once it’s red, you’re waiting for a car to come through the woods and then green, you go through the woods.”

Miller says it adds about 15 minutes to his commute and impacts his kids’ bus.

“We had significant rainfalls, and that five inches of rain caused the road to drop more substantially, and it has continued to slide,” said Harmony Township Manager Bob Villella. “That section of the road we felt was simply not going to be safe to be able to tolerate any of the heavy traffic.”

This week, Harmony Township passed an emergency declaration hoping to speed up the repair process and get help with funding.

“Our estimates have been significant,” said Villella.

As of right now, the repairs are expected to cost around $400,000. Water, sewage and gas companies have been out to check on the utilities. The township had engineers on site already as well as geotechnical professionals to figure out what needs to be done to rebuild the road and make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“I see it taking a while,” said Nicoletti. “They have a lot of engineering to do right now.”

Villella says they expect the work to take less than a year.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” said Villella. “Our countywide emergency management representatives have been here. Our county commissioners have been here. Our congressman and his staff members have been here. Our local and state representatives have been here. So we’re reaching out to everyone that we’re able to apprise them of the emergency declaration. Our need for assistance financially and otherwise. Everyone has been quite receptive.”

Villella says they’re also monitoring Forest Road, Valley Road and the area near Ridge and Virginia Avenue.

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