SOMERSET, Pa. (WTAJ)– The PA Turnpike Commission hosted a public meeting Wednesday night at the Somerset Church of the Brethren to update the community on where the Allegheny Mountain Realignment Project stands.
Right now the project is still in the preliminary planning stage and will be until 2028. Then it will enter the final planning stage that will last until 2032.
Hundreds of concerned community members filled the church social hall in opposition to a project that many say could destroy the mountain. Kevin Scheurich, the assistant chief engineer of the Turnpike Commission, said that the project is essential to upgrading the tunnel which would be 100 years old by the time construction starts.
“I think with every project right you’re going to have people that support the project and people that oppose it,” Scheurich said. “We’re spending a lot of money just rehabbing it, keeping it safe so that people can drive through it today. At some point, we need to do something in addition to the fact that it doesn’t have the capacity that we need. Our traffic looks a lot different than it did in 1940.”
State Representative for the 69th District, Carl Metzgar was also at the meeting, after issuing a statement against the project. He said no one wants the project to happen except for the Turnpike Commission.
“The proposal that they have out here is for a cut that is 1000 feet wide into the mountain,” Metzgar said. “That huge cut through an uninterrupted mountain face, the tallest mountain chain in Pennsylvania, is just unconscionable from our standpoint.”
Evan Endres with the Nature Conservancy PA was also at the meeting and raised concerns about how the cut through the mountain could impact wildlife in the region.
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“This corridor is going to become a superhighway of species seeking refuge to higher elevations and movement north,” Endres said. “It’s a turnpike for nature essentially. Maybe without the tolls.”
In his statement, Metzgar also suggested that the project could negatively impact water supplies in Allegheny and Stoneycreek Townships, as well as Berlin Borough.
“They could turn a town into a ghost town very quickly,” Metzgar said. “We’re talking about hundreds, maybe thousands of people’s water that could be impacted by this project.”
Scheurich said that they are still too early in the planning process to know exactly how the project would impact the water supply, but said that they will be looking at all of the potential environmental impacts and how to mitigate them throughout the process.
“Drinking water is a concern,” Scheurich said. “The aquifer is a concern. We do probably need to hire a hydro-geologist and get them on board.”
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The PA Turnpike Commission said that they will continue to collect public input throughout the entire planning process and host similar meetings in the future.
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