Turnpike, contractor cited after inspection
Environmental regulators faulted the state Turnpike Commission and its contractor, Joseph B. Fay, over a litany of deficiencies in erosion and sedimentation controls found during an inspection conducted last week at a Southern Beltway construction site after flooding was reported in and near McDonald.
Failures to implement and maintain erosion and sedimentation “best management practices” and to comply with permit conditions were among the findings of a report prepared by Washington County Conservation District following its July 14 inspection near Reissing Road and Route 980. Home and business owners complained of flooding in the McDonald business district and on Reissing Road – just outside the borough in Cecil Township – three days earlier during thunderstorms and heavy rain. The report also noted two basins that hadn’t been installed, and compost filtration socks that either weren’t installed or needed to be repaired or extended in some areas.
Conservation district Manager Gary Stokum said construction was one of several factors that likely contributed to the flooding, noting the heavy rainfall that day. He also said some of the pipes in the drainage way along Route 980 that were installed on private proeprty over the years are plugged or undersized.
“You can’t say the flooding was just caused by the construction,” he said. “There’s other reasons there.”
The Department of Environmental Protection made the report public Wednesday. DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said the next inspection at the site is scheduled for Aug. 7. Fay and the Turnpike have until then to remedy the problems outlined in the report, and the DEP and conservation district “will determine potential next steps” if those parties don’t comply.
“We fully intend to very quickly implement all of their suggestions,” said Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo Jr.
DeFebo said the storm last week was “significantly higher” in magnitude than the two-year rainfall regulations that specify what the erosion and sedimentation controls must be able to handle.
DEP asked the conservation district to conduct the inspection last week after the flooding.
The conservation district conducts monthly inspections to make sure erosion and sedimentation control measures are being installed in a timely manner. Three previous reports flagged no deficiencies.
Stokum said he couldn’t immediately comment on the previous reports, which he hadn’t seen.
DeFebo said previously that Fay did install proper erosion and sedimentation control measures. Pointing to the results of a June 26 inspection at the site – which found no deficiencies – DeFebo said some measures in place at the time of that inspection were washed away last week.
The nearly 13-mile extension of the Southern Beltway is projected to cost almost $800 million. Work on the 3.2-mile section of tolled highway that will cross Route 980 near Reissing began earlier this year.
Workers were on site last week installing additional control measures and repairing existing ones. DeFebo said officials have thus far settled two of five insurance claims by home and business owners related to the flooding.