Voice Your Concerns about the Mon/Fayette Turnpike

Prepared by the University of Pittsburgh Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of its client, Citizens for Alternatives to New Toll Roads (CANTR)

The law that required the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to prepare this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), also requires that they consider, report, and respond to the public’s comments. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO BE HEARD.

There are three public hearings regarding the DEIS, on July 16, 23 and 25th, 2002. However, any testimony at these hearings will be limited to five minutes. Therefore, the best opportunity for you to provide comprehensive comments on the DEIS is in written comments. We encourage everyone to both testify and comment in writing, but preparing written comments is where you should focus your attention.

FORMAT AND GENERAL ISSUES

The easiest way to submit your comments is in the form of a letter to the Turnpike Commission.
Your comments should be as factual, specific, and civil as possible.
If you are commenting about a specific portion of the DEIS, cite to the relevant pages.
Use your COMMON SENSE. If something does not make sense to you, seems to defy logic, or seems to be based on an incorrect assumption, that is a valid comment or criticism of the DEIS.
Much of the underlying “documentary support” for the conclusions and assertions in the DEIS is stored at the Turnpike Commission’s Offices in New Stanton. The Federal Highway Administration believes that requiring you to go to New Stanton to get complete information is reasonable and convenient for you. Is it?
When commenting, be sure to say whether or not you support the “preferred alternative”, which is to build a four-lane turnpike from Rt. 51 to Monroeville and Pittsburgh, following the North Shore of the Monongahela River. If you are against building this highway please say so specifically. Without such specific opposition, the Turnpike Commission may count even your critical comments as supporting their “preferred alternative.”

IMPACTS ON NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITIES

The DEIS is legally required to identify and discuss all reasonably foreseeable environmental impacts from the proposed turnpike. “Environmental Impacts” means more than just impacts to trees or streams. It also means impacts on communities, neighborhoods and your quality of life.
The proposed turnpike will directly impact many neighborhoods and communities by cutting right through those areas. It could indirectly impact other areas because of noise, air pollution, water run-off issues, diverted or increased traffic, displaced wildlife, and increased sprawl. The DEIS purports to address some of these impacts.
It is very important that the people who live in these impacted communities review and comment on the DEIS’s discussion of the impacts and the proposed measures to reduce or eliminate those impacts (mitigation measures). You know a lot more about your neighborhood than the folks who prepared the DEIS. Let them know that!
Set forth on the back of this sheet are some important issues covered by the DEIS that you may want to include in your comments. This list is not meant to be comprehensive or to deter you from raising other issues that are important to you. This turnpike will impact thousands of people and thousands of acres of land in Southwestern Pennsylvania. But it will also impact you in specific ways that only you can fully appreciate. It is important for you to include your personal insights, experiences and knowledge in your comments.

SUBMITTING YOUR COMMENTS ON THESE ISSUES

You must submit your written comments by September 9, 2002 to:
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
PO Box 67676
Harrisburg, PA 17106-7676
Attn: David P. Willis, Environmental Manager

ALTERNATIVES

The DEIS only considers in detail two alternative routes for a turnpike and a “no-build” alternative. Ask yourself: Is this a “reasonable range” of alternatives?
Is building a turnpike the ONLY reasonable alternative to improve traffic flow?
Do you think the DEIS should have considered an alternative that combined road and public transit upgrades?

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND THE NORTH VS. THE SOUTH SHORE

The DEIS must address adverse effects that the proposed turnpike will have on low income and minority communities.
The DEIS favors building the turnpike on the North Shore of the Mon River, running right through several low-income and minority areas, such as Braddock, Rankin and Hazelwood. The South Shore alternative, however, would run near or through mostly commercial areas such as the Waterfront development and Sandcastle.
The DEIS finds that the South Shore businesses have considerable value. But does the DEIS put value on the green spaces and neighborhood communities on the North Shore that will be directly impacted by the turnpike?

AIR QUALITY

The DEIS only spends three pages discussing air pollution and only discusses one type of air pollutant in detail, carbon monoxide. The “analysis” completely ignores issues like soot (particulates), which could be a big concern for those folks who will have to live near this road.

TRAFFIC

The traffic analysis uses outdated data that predicts a bigger population growth in the area than newer studies do.
As for traffic reduction, will traffic be reduced in areas like Hazelwood and Oakland, which will host interchanges for this new expressway?

RIVERFRONT ACCESS

The north shore of the Monongahela River, where they prefer to build this new turnpike, contains prime, undeveloped riverfront access. The DEIS has pleasant sketches showing folks strolling along the river underneath or right next to a four-lane expressway. Is this the kind of river front access you want? Is this the way we want to use our river banks, as highway corridors?

THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES

The Turnpike Commission does not plan to conduct a full study into the effects on endangered plant and animal species that the new turnpike would have until after the road is already approved. If you care about threatened and endangered species you should object loudly to this approach and insist on a complete analysis before any turnpike is approved.

FUNDING AND PROPERTY ACQUISITION

Right now the Turnpike Commission has the funding to plan this turnpike and to acquire property along their proposed route, but it does not yet have the money for construction.
There is a very real risk that this project could be approved, property along the proposed route acquired, and then nothing will be built for many years, if ever, causing significant economic blight in those areas.
The Turnpike Commission should not be allowed to acquire property for this road until it has the money to build it.
Although this will be a tollroad, tolls will not pay to build it! The Turnpike Commission plans to issue bonds, backed by taxes on everyone’s gasoline. The bonds will not be paid off until 2061.
The Turnpike Commission is counting on a big increase in federal funding. Do you think that the Turnpike Commission’s reliance on more federal funding makes sense now that federal budget deficits are once again the rule in Washington?
The Federal Highway Administration should require that the Turnpike Commission have a realistic funding plan before this turnpike is approved.

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