Route 120 still closed

LOCK HAVEN — The Renovo Road remains closed today.

According to Pete Smeltz, Clinton County PennDOT maintenance manager, work is progressing well and inspections today will determine if Route 120 will reopen tomorrow morning.

The decision will be made by the end of today, Smeltz said, urging motorists to listen to other media to determine the status of the roadwork. Until then, drivers must continue to use alternate routes to travel between Renovo and Lock Haven.

A crack in the roadway that opened up Friday afternoon near the Baker Mill Run construction site along Route 120 was the cause of the closings and detours.

While PennDOT employees worked continuously over the weekend, all Route 120 drivers are still forced to seek alternate routes today.

Before re-opening the roadway, however, Smeltz said that a new sub-base and blacktop must be constructed to ensure the safety of traveling motorists.

Before the rock slide, traffic had previously been restricted to one lane along this same stretch of roadway, as HRI Inc. was in the midst of constructing a wall to prevent such occurrences.

However, before the wall’s construction was complete, a crack in the roadway, attributed largely to the excessive rainfall, caused the closing of Route 120 on Friday and into today.

Smeltz said that although Route 120 will not be open today, it could re-open tomorrow if the necessary work is accomplished. In the meantime, alternate routes detour Westbound motorists along Route 664/44 to the Hyner Mountain Road and then back onto Route 120; Eastbound motorists will be directed the opposite way.