CLARION CO., Pa. (EYT) — PennDOT has released new details on the proposed I-80 Canoe Creek Bridges Project, including information on bridge design, tolling implementation, traffic diversion, and environmental impact.

(Pictured above: PennDOT’s I-80 Canoe Creek Bridges Project open house at Keystone Elementary School on Monday.)

“The bridges are at the end of their useful life and need to be replaced,” Brian Allen told exploreClarion.com.

“That’s the first piece. Both Canoe Creek and North Fork are over 50 years old, and they were designed to last about that long. The second piece of it is, in order for the department to keep up maintaining all of its assets, there’s an $8 billion funding gap for what we actually get to keep everything in the shape it needs to be in.”

Allen, who is the District Executive for PennDOT’s District 10, which covers Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson Counties, explained diminishing gas tax revenues have caused funding shortfalls in the department’s ability to maintain its bridges.

The Major Bridge P3 Program has identified nine bridges in Pennsylvania, including the Canoe Creek Bridges and Jefferson County North Fork Bridges as possible locations for tolling in order to renovate and maintain those bridges.

“Those nine locations, that are still candidates, total between $1.6 billion and over $2 million,” said Allen. “That’s basically an entire years’ program the department puts out for construction for the entire state. That’s (tolling) one of the options that they’ve looked at to help close that funding gap.”

Allen stated tolls would go to pay for the replacement of the existing structures and future maintenance.

Tina Gibbs, District 10’s Community Relations Coordinator said they have received much public feedback about the proposed tolling, including concerns about traffic diversion routes.

“That’s a lot of what we’ve tried to address,” she said, “Their concerns and working through the mitigation efforts. We’re just trying to keep as many lines of communication open with the public as we can.”

Gibbs said PennDOT has many avenues to receive public comments, including on the 1-80 Canoe Creek Bridges virtual meeting website, as well as through email at i80CanoeCreek@pa.gov.

She previously told exploreClarion.com PennDOT has taken steps to mitigate the economic impact of the tolling; tolls will only be collected for eastbound traffic and allowing toll-free bridge access for low-income residents.

“We have heard from quite a few community members. Our EMS personnel have been involved. We’ve had school board members, school administrators, borough council,” said Gibbs. “We’ve tried to get the community as involved as we can, and a lot of them have stepped up to the plate and really come to us to express concerns and suggestions so they do know when they stand.”

Regarding opposition to the proposed tolling by local politicians, Gibbs said PennDOT has met with them multiple times, explaining the various aspects of I-80 tolling.

“We’ve always had a good relationship with our senators and our representatives here,” she said. “There’s open conversation on both sides, open communication lines at all times between us. There’s going to be things that happen that they might not be in favor for one way or they might be in favor for and we’re not.”

Bridge Design and Tolling Implementation

The design for the replacement Canoe Creek Bridges is expected to last three to four years, and the new bridges will have a 100-year lifespan.

“There’s going to be two lanes of traffic in each direction open at all times during construction. That’s one of the big features of the project,” said Jason Layman, the PennDOT project manager for the Canoe Creek project.

He said construction will bring the eastbound bridge slightly closer to the westbound bridge, as well as improve the “horizontal and vertical geometry” to bring it up to current design standards.

Tippecanoe Road, which runs underneath the bridges on the east side of Canoe Creek, will be detoured during construction while the new bridges are built.

Additionally, the Thompson Hill Culvert, which lays under I-80 west of the bridges will be rehabilitated during the project.

Tolls will be implemented in a non-obtrusive way said Matt Woodhouse from WSP, a PennDOT engineering consultant. The tolling structure would be built one mile east of bridges in the area of an existing weighing station.

The all-electronic tolling system would record vehicles as they passed under the gantry sensors, meaning drivers would not have to stop and pay.

(Pictured above, from left: The Canoe Creek traffic demand model.)

Traffic Diversion

The Canoe Creek project features a traffic diversion analysis that predicts how much traffic will be diverted from the interstate and the route the diverted traffic is most likely to take explained HDR consultant Jenn Walsh.

PennDOT’s traffic model indicates only seven percent of traffic going across the Canoe Creek Bridges originates locally and is traveling to a local destination, which is defined as less than ten miles.

Forty-nine percent of the traffic that crosses the bridges originates externally, greater than 25 miles, and is destined for an external location.

Walsh stated external traffic will choose to pay the tolls and not divert off the interstate.

“We’re not able to say that it’s only local traffic diverting, but more than likely more of the local traffic is going to divert,” she said.

The diversionary route PennDOT identified begins at Exit 53 going eastward and moves north along PA-338 to Knox. From there, it follows PA-208 to Shippenville and then PA-322 after a right turn.

The diversionary route follows PA-322 until its intersection with PA-66, continuing south until it rejoins I-80 in exit 60.

There are six improvements PennDOT will make along the diversionary route to accommodate the tolling diversion

Environmental Impact

“The environmental footprint for the project itself is not huge,” said Dianne Nulton, another HDR consultant.

She explained there are some wetlands that will be impacted, however, the total impact will be less than one-tenth of an acre of exceptional quality wetlands.

“We do have some stream impacts, we’re going across Canoe Creek,” said Nulton. “And, there are some culverts along the project where we might be extending a culvert or replacing ones that might have permanent or temporary impacts to those streams. When we have those impacts, we have to mitigate.”

There was one historical industrial site, the Tippecanoe Furnace, that was identified as being in the project area, but Welsh said the effects are minimal to it and it will be cordoned off during construction.