Magee Road To Remain Closed Indefinitely

Motorists who typically travel a shut-down portion of Magee Road in Sewickley Hills could be taking a detour indefinitely as crews wait for materials.

Allegheny County Department of Public Works crews shut off a portion of the road by 8 p.m. Tuesday night after a occurred about 250 feet north of Blackburn Road.

Steve Smallhoover, project manager, couldn’t say when the section of county-owned road would be repaired and reopened. He said crews will do a "Band-Aid" fix but are waiting for asphalt plants to open for the season. Once the weather cooperates, he said they’ll be able to move forward with patching up the problem.

Smallhoover said Magee Road dropped about 6 inches at the center line in the roadway.

Smallhoover said the Sewickley area is known for having landslide issues because of the hilly terrain and possible underground springs. In 2009, public works crews closed a stretch of Blackburn Road in Sewickley to repair a deteriorating retaining wall and stabilize the road.

"We do a lot of walls out there," Smallhoover said.

The closure is forcing changes to area school-bus routes, said Quaker Valley School District spokeswoman Martha Smith. The district has asked parents to be patient as the district reroutes the buses from the Magee Road area.

As for the posted detour, he said locals have indicated there are shorter routes that drivers could take. The posted detour follows Blackburn, Fern Hollow and Audubon roads.

Smallhoover acknowledged the posted detour “may be a little bit longer,” but he said officials only detour traffic on suitable county and state roads.

“We had to coordinate with PennDOT. Part of the detoured route is on PennDOT roads,” he said.