The public had the chance earlier this week to hear about PennDOT’s latest options for dealing with an acid rock problem that has affected I-99 construction in the Skytop area of Centre County.
This week’s meeting came several weeks after PennDOT announced it had placed another plan to truck acid rock from Skytop to a location in Indiana County.
During the meeting held in Patton Township at the Park Forest Middle School on Monday evening, those in attendance heard details about a proposed site in Worth Township where pyrite-ensnarled rock would be placed after its removal from Skytop.
PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler outlined a proposal to remove 675,000 cubic yards of the substance from Skytop to a site a short distance from the Interstate construction.
A PennDOT District Two spokesperson, Marla Fannin, said the Worth Township site would be an engineered rock placement area. Fannin said the site would be a dry containment area that could be built about 2.5 to three miles from the construction site toward the Port Matilda area. The site is adjacent to I-99.
“It will allow us to move a great portion of the material on already-constructed I-99,” said Fannin. She explained the portion she was referring to is not yet an open road.
She said if the cleanup using the Worth Township site could be completed in the earliest time period possible (17 months) it would allow the portion of I-99 from Port Matilda to State College to be opened by early ’08.
PennDOT had been looking to haul the rock to a site in Pine Township, Indiana County and permits were applied for in January. The Indiana County site met with disapproval there and raised concerns of those who live and travel along the 75-mile route from Skytop to the proposed site.
The plan was placed on hold in early March. However, Fannin said the idea has not been scrapped altogether. She said other sites that had been looked at were discussed briefly at Monday’s meeting. Fannin indicated the cost for the cleanup will remain at about $25 million regardless of what site is ultimately used.
Fannin said the Indiana County site had its own separate timetable. That option would be about a two-year process counting the permit time period with a completion targeted for spring of 2008. With that plan on hold, if it were eventually chosen, the time frame might need to be revised.
Fannin said if an alternative other than Worth Township or the Indiana County site were chosen it could take 30 to 35 months to complete the cleanup.
Fannin said PennDOT is trying to learn about what the public thinks of the Worth Township plan.
“One of the things we were looking to get was some input in regard to what they thought about the (engineered rock placement area) potential,” said Fannin.
She said her office would soon be putting together a new edition of its I-99 newsletter. Fannin hoped the newsletter would be ready by month’s end. She said the newsletter would contain a summary of Monday’s meeting. Comment cards were issued to the public at the meeting. People had the choice to fill out and return the cards at the meeting or return it in the mail by a deadline. The newsletter will also include a summary of the comments received.
Fannin also mentioned another part of the I-99 project that begins in northern Blair County. She said the final paving contract for the 10-mile Bald Eagle to Port Matilda section has yet to go out to bid.
