Route 54 closed near Ryan, Rush line due to downed Frontier lines
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Telecommunications lines lay across Route 54 in Barnesville on March 13, 2023.
BARNESVILLE – If you’re headed to work in Tamaqua, the Panther Valley, or anywhere else that takes you through Barnesville, you’ll need to take a detour Monday morning, if not longer.
Route 54 between Grier Avenue and Tuscarora Mountain Road — the Barnesville Post Office and the Dollar General — has been closed since 4pm Sunday.
Firefighters say a trash truck took out a utility pole near Lakeside Beverage, downing power and telecommunication lines.
The truck was towed away and PPL Electric Utilities repaired their damaged infrastructure.
The extended road closure, Ryan Township fire officials say, is because Frontier Communications did not respond to the scene to promptly repair their equipment.
As of midnight, Frontier lines were laying across both lanes of Route 54 outside Lakeside Beverage. Frontier has a maintenance and operations facility about a mile west of the scene on the state highway.
“Their last response is they can get here March 14th,” Deputy Chief Matt Morgan said in a Facebook post Sunday. “They evidently feel it’s acceptable that their lines lay on the road and keep a state road closed for days.”
Road closed signs and cones are blocking the highway at both the post office and the Dollar General, and the closure is listed on 511PA.
Sunday’s incident is not the first time Frontier infrastructure has caused issues on Ryan Township roads.
In Dec. 2020, an already-damaged utility pole came down on Tuscarora Mountain Road, leaving the upper portion of the pole suspended over the southbound lane of the two lane roadway which connects Barnesville and Tuscarora. The pole remained suspended over the lane and the lane was closed for several months.
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