Trending
he proposed construction to Route 220, which will create a 6-mile safety corridor, will sideline residents in favor of interstate itinerants, according to residents and emergency personnel.
The construction, which extends 6 miles from the Fourth Street Merge with Route 220 to Route 287, is expected to begin in October, according to PennDOT officials, who recently met with Sun-Gazette editorial staff. The $36-million project will take three years to complete and is focused on eliminating left-hand turns which create traffic conflicts.
The largest changes will be elimination of the intersection at Queneshaque Road and outgoing traffic from Grandview, where there is a developed residential area.
The bulk of the work this year will be utility work, said T Jay Cunningham, assistant district executive.
"Next year, we'll start in the actual roadway working again," he said. "We are going to try to maintain traffic to the best of our ability through the corridor. For the most part, there will be two lanes in all directions."
All efforts will be made to maintain normal traffic at peak hours. There are some areas, specifically at the bridges, where traffic will be reduced to one lane simply due to the nature of the work, said Cunningham.
"If you had to sum it up in the one way of putting it we're limiting most if not all those, those left hand turn," he said.
PennDOT has reached out to local townships and business to negotiate on the changes, according to Sandra Tosca, District 3-0 executive for PennDOT.
Residents and township officials disagree, however, and said the changes will disrupt life and safety along the highway.
A six-year Piatt Township supervisor and owner of Miller Motor Works is stuck in the middle at Larry's Creek where the highway goes around his business and a few houses before coming back together.
He disagrees with PennDOT's stated core principle of construction -- that Route 220's primary
function is to provide a high-speed link between Route 80 and Route 180.
"They don't care about anybody on this highway. They care about getting people from out of state through this corridor as fast as they can," said Terry Miller. "They want to make this an interstate look-alike, and it's never going to be an interstate."
For the communities that have grown on each side of the highway, the intersections play a key role in travel, he said and added that his business would suffer substantially for the U-turns planned around his land.
"It's not been an issue for 50 years. I don't know why they need to spend $36 million to screw this highway up," said Terry Miller
A supervisor for the time when PennDot first planned to do anything for Route 220, he said PennDOT officials failed to work with the township in any meaningful way.
Dene Edwards, chairman supervisor of Piatt Township, plans to reach out to local ambulance, police and fire company representatives, because he "needs backing" to get any change.
Edwards would rather see more lighting and a widening of the highway, to alleviate traffic and allow for a safer passage, he said. Reducing the amount of intersections will lead to more traffic around those, and thus causing more accidents.
Woodward Township is already trying to mobilize, as representatives from the Woodward Volunteer Fire company: Richard Whalen, Chief; Steve Resser, Assistant Chief; and Joe Bertin, President, met with Woodward Township Supervisors in February to discuss the issues the safety corridor would pose for their response time.
"Members can't get to stations because of the way they have all the new no-left hand turns, and the farther distance we have to go to get to the proposed turn-around," said Richard Whalen.
Fire company officials estimated the proposed changes to Route 220 would increase the response time by up to 78 percent for EMS or fire response, especially to get to East Linden or Anthony Township.
"When people call 911, it's an emergency for them, he said. "If we can make some changes before it gets to our section, we're all for it."
He sent letters to PennDOT offices in Harrisburg and Montoursville, however did not receive any response at the time of this publication.