It’s Official: Plans for Cranberry Northwest Connector a Go

After almost 10 years in the making, t to link the Cranberry Heights neighborhood with Route 19 are about to get under way.

At Thursday's , officials approved a $175,000 sales agreement to acquire property that is owned by the Deener family and is needed to complete the project.

At about 1,800 feet in length, the connector will bisect the property, a working farm located near the intersection of Bear Run Road with Route 19. It also will provide a direct route to the highway for the people living in the more than 200 homes in the Cranberry Heights neighborhood. To access Route 19, homeowners must now travel the narrow and winding Bear Run Road.

The project stalled more than two years ago when the state Department of Environmental Protection required the township to determine if endangered massasauga snakes were living in the area before construction could begin on the project. Under state law, the habitat of an endangered species cannot be destroyed.

A biologist Cranberry hired to examine the property found no evidence of the rattlers.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $2 million, and Cranberry is seeking alternative funding sources to help offset the costs, the township website said.

Jason Kratsas, Cranberry’s director of engineering, has said the connector could go out to bid in December with construction beginning in the spring.