Repairs begin on roadway next to Century III Mall

A contractor began to repair the hazardous road next to West Mifflin’s abandoned Century III Mall last week — years after residents and local officials began to complain that the thruway’s conditions were too dangerous to accommodate traffic.

Until last week, the road that runs along the shopping center and connects Routes 51 and 885 had wide cracks and foot-deep potholes that steadily worsened.

Neiswonger, the contractor hired by the mall’s owner Moonbeam Capital, has begun to patch the potholes. Once the repairs are finished, the road should be safe to drive on for the first time in years, officials said.

“Another good sign of progress,” said West Mifflin borough Councilman Dan Davis. “Any patching of the deep potholes is greatly appreciated by all that use that road.”

It’s unclear when the repairs will be complete.

For years, residents reported damaging their vehicles when driving on the road.

“I had my tire blown out by one of those potholes,” Ernest Rascati, 53, who lives right behind the mall, said at the shopping center’s condemnation hearing last June.

Local officials warned against using the road, but weren’t able to repair it themselves because it’s owned by Moonbeam.

The repairs come two weeks after Neiswonger began to tear down the mall. The entire demolition is expected to take months — only 5% of the parking deck has come down so far, officials estimate. And the interior of the mall is expected to undergo asbestos remediation in the coming weeks.

Moonbeam had long resisted calls to tear down the mall, even when West Mifflin council members voted unanimously to condemn the ailing structure. The company hired a contractor in March, less than two months after Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. filed criminal nuisance charges against the mall’s owners in January.