Millcreek woman says PennDOT should consider alternatives to tree clearing along the interstates.
A concerned citizen has launched an online petition calling on the state to stop cutting down trees along Interstate 79 north of McKean and elsewhere.
The petition was started on the website www.ipetitions.com and is addressed to Gov. Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 1 officials. It cites numerous reasons to end the tree cutting, including environmental and safety concerns.
"This is such a serious issue," said Diane Esser, of Millcreek Township. Esser is the founder of Plant It Forward: A Community Tree Planing Initiative and I Am A Planet Kid, an environmental education program for children. She also is a member of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators.
Esser started the petition this week. As of Friday afternoon, 150 people had signed it.
PennDOT, through a private contractor, began removing the trees north of McKean starting in August as part of a $6.2 million interstate paving project. The project includes $603,366 for tree trimming and removal.
PennDOT began removing trees in the median because they were within a federally required 30-foot "clear zone," which is a buffer area that is free of obstructions where drivers can regain control of their vehicles and steer them back onto the road. PennDOT officials elected to expand that clear zone to 50 feet.
There were 68 crashes on Erie County interstates, including interstates 79, 86 and 90, in the past five years in which drivers drove off the road and into trees. In the 10-mile stretch where the road-paving project is occurring, there have been 25 crashes in which motorists struck a tree, two of which resulted in a fatality.
The contractor for the paving project, Union City-based Russell Standard Corp., is permitted to sell the timber, which can lower the cost of a project. Other trees have been removed or chipped on site.
Earlier this month, PennDOT spokeswoman Jill Harry told the Erie Times-News that fewer trees are being removed than originally anticipated.
PennDOT plans to remove more trees from the median farther south on I-79 in 2019. The tree trimming started near Hershey Road and extended south five miles. The remaining five miles of the project will extend about a mile south of Old State Road when work resumes in 2019.
Esser said Friday that PennDOT officials are being short-sighted in their approach to addressing safety issues.
Trees along the highway have several benefits, she said: They mitigate carbon and particulate matter emissions from cars and trucks. They serve as sun, snow and wind barriers for motorists. They're part of the natural habitat for deer and other wildlife that might otherwise cross into traffic. In the median, trees can stop cars from accidentally careening from one set of lanes to another, therefore preventing injuries to additional motorists, Esser said.
Cutting the trees, she said, further reduces the tree canopy, which can impact the overall health of the community.
A better alternative would be to install guardrails in areas of concern, she said.
Harry, the spokeswoman for PennDOT, said public feedback prompted the agency to re-evaluate its tree-clearing plans for the second portion of the project. Fewer trees will be cut than originally planned. PennDOT will maintain most of the trees outside the 30-foot "clear zone."
PennDOT officials are aware of the online petition, Harry said. The environmental assessments that Esser says need to be conducted in her petition are not assessments that PennDOT is required to conduct. However, Harry said PennDOT's maintenance crew were consulted about the impact the tree clearing could have on snow drifts and did not feel there would be a problem in the project area. PennDOT also evaluates the environmental impact of each project.
"If those issues existed," Harry said, "they would have been part of our assessment."
This winter, PennDOT will determine the type of vegetation to plant in the median.
Esser wants her petition to reach state officials. She also hopes it helps educate people about the environmental impact of tree clearing, she said.
"Our kids deserve better," she said.