HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov.-elect Ed Rendell reluctantly backed a plan to build a nine-mile section of Interstate 99 along a highly-criticized “ridge route” approved by state transportation and environmental officials.
The stretch would link 75 miles of federal highway already built between Interstate 80 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Supporters of the plan say Rendell’s endorsement Tuesday should help construction of the $60 million project begin in March and be completed by 2007.
Rendell’s endorsement is expected to stem an ongoing dispute involving the state Game Commission, which is appealing a Blair County judge’s decision in November to let the state Department of Transportation condemn about 68 acres of state game lands to build the highway.
“I don’t think the lawsuit will be much to worry about because I don’t think (the Game Commission is) going to want to look as if they want to oppose Ed Rendell, since he has the powers of his office to appoint members of the commission,” said state Rep. Richard Geist, R-Blair.
Game Commission officials declined to comment Tuesday.
Rendell noted the concerns of conservation, wildlife, and sportsmen’s groups who say the planned mountainside road would hurt wildlife habitats and wetlands on Bald Eagle Ridge, located about 15 miles north of Altoona. Critics of the plan also say the route is more dangerous and costly than building the road in the U.S. Route 220 valley.
But in his prepared statement Tuesday, Rendell said finding another route could cost $70 million and delay the project for three years.
“If I had been involved in the project several years earlier, it is quite possible that I would have pursued an alternative way to connect the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Interstate 80,” Rendell said.
But the advantages of other routes “do not … outweigh the disadvantages of considerable time delays and massive additional expenditures necessary to abandon the current course of action,” Rendell said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection in early December granted a permit for the route, saying it won’t affect endangered species, dams, wildlife sanctuaries, public water supplies, landmarks or parks.
Many residents along Route 220 believe the new interstate will siphon traffic and traffic accidents away from their homes.
The new highway will have four lanes, replacing the two-lane Route 220. Nearly 11 acres of wetlands will be affected by the project, the DEP said.
Some proponents want the highway to eventually reach through Williamsport and up the U.S. Route 15 corridor to New York state. Signs along U.S. Route 15 north of Williamsport designate that highway as a “Future Interstate 99 Corridor.”
“This is a great step forward for progress,” said David Atkinson, aide to state Senate President Pro Tem and Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer. “This removes a substantial roadblock to completion.”
