PennDOT holds open house for I-80 overhaul project

BROOKVILLE — PennDOT held an open house on Tuesday night at Hickory Grove Elementary School to introduce its plans to overhaul the Brookville section of Interstate 80.

Consultant design manager Jason Layman explained the project

“This is the I-80 Brookville East reconstruction project, and it is a reconstruction of Interstate 80 eastbound and westbound from the Brookville interchange at Exit 78 to the interchange at Exit 86. The North Fork Bridge project is in between those limits and is not part of this project. The big thing with this project is that we are maintaining two lanes of traffic in both eastbound and westbound during construction. There will be no long-term single lane closure during construction,” Layman said.

He said PennDOT will need to acquire multiple right-of-ways on either side of the project to facilitate a widening to the outside of the interstate. He said so far, the land owners they have talked to have been receptive to PennDOT’s needs and offers.

“So far it has been pretty good. Everyone understands the need of the project. The interstate is in really bad shape, which is why we are constructing from the bottom up and not just doing a Band-Aid type project. We looked at our alternatives, we looked at widening to both the outside and the inside, and there were a lot of issues with widening to the inside because of a narrow median throughout the corridor; there were safety issues with lanes getting too close, and traffic going on opposite directions. So widening to the outside obviously results in these strip takes, as we call them, for cut and fill slopes. So far, we have talked to quite a few property owners and they have seemed receptive to the concept. I think they understand the need for the project and understand that, unfortunately, impacts have to happen,” Leyman said.

He said each property owner will have a chance to discuss their case with PennDOT’s right-of-way unit to discuss the appraisal of their property in hopes of reaching a settlement and avoiding eminent domain.

“There is a right-of-way process that each property owner will have a chance to go through with our right-of-way unit. Each section we are taking gets appraised and is discussed with each property owner. They can either negotiate or settle. We don’t like to go through eminent domain. We like to settle with each property owner. Each property owner will have a chance to talk with our right-of-way folks and discuss their impacts and appraisal of their property,” he said.

He said they will be utilizing a process called

“full depth paving.”

“Full depth paving is basically ripping out everything from the bottom up. The whole nine yards from top to bottom. We are not leaving any of the existing stuff in place; it’s all brand new. The new roadway will be on top of the old roadway with no shift in alignment of the interstate throughout the corridor,” Layman said.

He said they have done multiple environmental studies and because it has federal oversight, there is a lot of scrutiny on the project. He said the studies take into account the impacts on wetlands, endangered species and aquatic life in the streams, these considerations are factored into the design of the project and the proper permitting and mitigation efforts are taken.

In regard to excess traffic going through downtown Brookville, he said they are trying to minimize the effects to the community.

“Keeping two lanes of traffic going in each direction was done from a safety standpoint and to minimize impacts to the community of Brookville. Keeping two lanes open will hopefully avoid accidents versus shutting down one lane and having those long lines, where crashes start to occur. The end result is that our template is wider than what’s out there now, giving trucks more room to maneuver. If there is an accident, with our wider template, rather than shutting everything down, there might be more room to push a vehicle to the side of the road. There has been a lot of community involvement and relations with the borough of Brookville regarding this project to lessen the impact to them and avoid all these vehicles going through Brookville to avoid all of this construction,” Layman said.

He said 14 structures will be replaced, including various bridges and culverts. He said they will save money by doing them now, rather than later. He said the ballpark cost is around $300 million dollars. He said there will be no construction until late 2024 or early 2025. He said it will be a three- or four-year project once construction starts.

While Layman spoke favorably of the project, others in the community aren’t so sure about it. Brookville Borough Council president Phil Hynes said citizens of Brookville need to know what is going on and borough council is concerned that this project will increase traffic through downtown Brookville.

“I am sort of surprised that this project is coordinating with the bridge project. We are going to have major disruptions for a number of years on Interstate 80, which is definitely going to impact Brookville and citizens should definitely be aware of what’s coming. Borough council is being cautiously optimistic about the project, but we are also trying to coordinate with our Main Street development plan that we are currently studying. We are concerned about the traffic coming through Brookville and we are trying to get answers for that question. No one really has any good answers for us at this point,” Hynes said.

Borough council second-vice president Randy Bartley echoed Hynes’ concerns about the traffic.

“There is no doubt that the project is needed. The North Fork bridge project is definitely needed, but the back to back of the bridge project with this project is going to reduce the traffic flow on Interstate-80, and I am afraid that when word spreads between truckers and so forth, that they might decide to use the detour through downtown Brookville. That is always the concern because, quite frankly, small towns in this area are not built for truck traffic,” Bartley said.

He said he is keeping an open mind, but is concerned that it will become their worst-case scenario.

“It just depends on how bad it gets. Right now, on paper, it looks doable. In practice, you never know. We have all seen what happens when there is an accident on Interstate-80. The interstate is closed, truck traffic goes through Brookville, and despite the best efforts if the fire and police departments, it is just impossible to keep traffic flowing. You have backups and at times it seems impossible to get across Main Street,” Bartley said.