Fight to save the face of the Allegheny Mountain continues

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — For nearly 30 years, residents and officials in Somerset County have opposed cutting the face of the Allegheny front.

Now, three decades after the start of the fight, they continue to push back against proposed projects.

On Monday, elected officials and non-profit organizations gathered on top of the mountain to show why they’re pushing back against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s proposed Allegheny Mountain Realignment Plan .

“We want to make sure the Turnpike commission and all of our elected officials, the governor’s office, are aware of the amount of opposition that is out here to this gray cut disaster that they’re, you know, in the design phase for right now. It’s been probably three years since they had their last public meeting,” Randy Musser, Chairperson of the Citizens to Save the Allegheny Mountain said.

Musser and his team claim that the plan involves carving a massive trench through the mountain. It would be around 250 feet deep, 1,000 feet wide, and nearly 4 miles long, to alleviate growing traffic pressure and other issues.

One of the places that could be impacted by the project is the Borough of Berlin, which relies on the mountain for water.

“We have wells and springs that are on the mountain, which is here on this mountain that supply our borough. We do rely with the school, the nursing home. We have a chip plant, homegrown, chip plant, where we have residents from the borough, plus people that come in, that rely on the water. It could change the streams of the way the water flows,” Traci Horning, Executive Secretary for the Berlin Borough Municipal Authority said.

Residents plan to fight back legislatively as well by relying on their locally elected officials to scrutinize or appeal permits that would pass through their office on the project. State Representative Carl Metzgar said it’s worth fighting for.

“You know, from my standpoint, we’re no less valuable than the people who live on top of the Squirrel Hill tunnels or any other place. So why would we, you know, why would we allow this to happen? And why would the turnpike want to do that to us,” Metzgar said.

In response to the project, the PA Turnpike Commission reached out to WTAJ with a comment. It states:

“The Allegheny Mountain Realignment project will add a new stretch of mainline roadway to increase safety, regional access and mobility, while reducing congestion. While we work through preliminary engineering and final design, every effort will be made to minimize environmental impacts in coordination with state and federal environmental agencies.”

– PA Turnpike Commission

The PA Turnpike Commission will hold a public project briefing on Sept. 26 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Somerset Church of the Brethren . It’s located at 606 Berlin Plank Road, in Somerset.

Citizens to Save the Allegheny Mountain said the public meeting is the last opportunity for the community to comment during the design phase which goes until 2027.

However, the Turnpike said that there will be additional opportunities for public comment. For example, they will share information with the public at the end of preliminary design as they do for all of their construction projects. During this time, they’ll provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions and provide feedback.

The Turnpike Commission will continue accepting feedback throughout the duration of the project.

According to the Turnpike Commission, the purpose of the briefing is to provide an update to the community on the status of the project and explain what is anticipated for the next four years of preliminary engineering, as field studies progress on the selected alignment.

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Anyone who plans to be there should confirm their attendance by emailing alleghenymountain@paturnpike.com . The Turnpike Commission asks that questions and comments on the project be limited to two minutes per person.

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