Pottsville Reopens “Hillside Rd.” on Thursday

The road known locally as “Hillside Rd.” has reopened to traffic.

The Road Closed signs to Hillside were removed Thursday morning. It had been closed to traffic since July 30 after City officials noticed large chunks of the western edge of the road had eroded after heavy rains.

The winding mountainside passage serves as a way in and out of Pottsville and is an effective route from downtown Pottsville to Gordon Nagle Trail.

City officials closed Hillside Rd. — also listed as Hotel St. and Cressona Rd. on map apps — on July 30 after sections began crumbling down an embankment overlooking South Centre Street, leaving guide rails with no stable ground beneath them.

City Administrator Ian Mahal said the road was “actively failing” and a collision in the affected area could have been tragic. Heavy rain and the lack of proper curbing or drainage were blamed for the erosion.

Pottsville hired B&H Landscaping for an emergency repair, removing all unstable portions of the road and trucking in about 250 tons of stone and fill materials provided by the city.

A concrete base was poured, damaged guide rails were bent back into place, and a concrete block retaining wall was built to hold the new foundation.

Mahal and Streets Superintendent Tom Whitaker defended the choice of contractor, calling the firm a trusted source that was immediately available to address what they described as an emergency.

Whitaker said his own crews were short-staffed and already tied up with other urgent repairs.

Mahal stressed the work was a temporary fix to make the road safe enough to reopen, with a long-term reconstruction expected to cost millions. “We’re doing it right, right now,” he said, “otherwise, it’s going to be closed for a long time.”

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