Conservation Groups Oppose PA Turnpike Commission Plan to Cut Through the Allegheny Front

Conservation groups are raising alarms about the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s (PTC) plans to abandon the Allegheny Tunnel in Somerset County in favor of making a large open cut through the top of Allegheny Mountain, which, the group notes, “would destroy valuable wildlife habitat and threaten two watersheds.”

At issue is the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission plans under consideration to expand Interstate 76 to increase traffic flow at the Allegheny Tunnel in Somerset County. Three of the six alternatives being pursued include abandoning the Allegheny Tunnel and, instead, removing a large section of the mountain itself, to allow for a road.

Noted Randy Musser, president of the Mountain Field and Stream Club (MF&SC), which owns 1,400 acres of land above the Allegheny Tunnel, “In 1990, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission initially requested a study detailing alternatives to the Allegheny Tunnel. A proposed open cut through White Horse Mountain was opposed by residents and plans were scrapped.Now, more than a decade later, the PTC is back and they still want to cut a hole through the beautiful Allegheny Mountains.”

“The Allegheny Front is one of our Commonwealth’s most prominent and revered features,” noted Cindy Dunn, president and CEO of PennFuture, a statewide environmental and conservation organization that represents the MF&SC. “A cut through the mountain would not only devastate the surrounding landscape, it would disrupt both surface and subsurface water resources and cut off essential migration routes for wildlife and plant species.”

Category: General Update