Day: March 19, 2019

"The completion and costs changes are being attributed to PennDOT in late 2016 determining that a two-mile section of the southern section could not be built over two fly ash basins. PennDOT studied three alternatives to bypass the basins and in November 2017 recommended the route that passes east of them."

"Final design of that stretch could not begin until the Federal Highway Administration in January determined the new route did not pose a significant environmental impact. The discovery the water level in the basins was 10 feet below the surface and the wet material has the consistency of toothpaste was unexpected, because PennDOT had been told the water should have drained out of the basins, which were closed in 1988 and the late 1990s. The fly ash was pumped in the form of slurry from the former PPL coal-fired generating plant in Shamokin Dam."