Work completed in area where I-70 is being undermined
Workers finished milling on Interstate 70 near West Alexander to address mine subsidence damage early Wednesday.
Ripples in the roadway had developed Tuesday morning due to recent longwall mining underneath I-70, between the West Virginia line and the Claysville interchange. The state Department of Transportation will monitor ground movement in the area 24 hours a day while the project is underway.
Valerie Petersen, spokeswoman for PennDOT, said workers had been stopping traffic for 15 minutes at a time Tuesday to mill the road. She said the work was completed at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday. She said traffic is still restricted to a single lane in each direction, and the speed limit is 45 mph in that area.
Petersen said those ripples are “the only incident we’ve seen so far” related to the mining. According to a progress report from PennDOT’s district executive, Joseph Szczur, the roadway is expected to settle between two and five feet in some areas due to the mining.
PennDOT plans to use light-detection and ranging technology to monitor ground movement and compare it with what the land looked like before the mining started. The agency also will use an alarm system to notify it if the ground moves beyond an allowable limit, according to Szczur’s report.
“For minor damage such as cracking and compression bumps, our county maintenance forces and contractors will keep the road safe for travel by milling and spot patching,” Szczur wrote in the report. “After the mining is out from beneath the section of the interstate and the ground settling has finished, we will use emergency contracts to repair the surface damage.”
In the report, Szczur said PennDOT will use survey data to monitor the situation and “plan for future events,” as Tunnel Ridge Mine panels are expected to pass under I-70 nine more times from now until 2038.
The report states that Alliance Coal Co. will provide daily updates to PennDOT on mining conditions. A spokesperson for Tunnel Ridge said the company is not providing any comments on the project and referred all questions to PennDOT.
Szczur said PennDOT’s goal is “to protect the traveling public and keep the millions of Interstate 70 motorists moving across Pennsylvania.”