Concerned speakers at Wednesday's public hearing about the proposed Scranton Beltway project were as passionate as many who spoke at a series of hearings two years ago.
There were, however, far fewer of them.
While dozens signed up to speak in November 2024, only a handful did so Wednesday night at Pittston Area High School.
That wasn't the only difference.
Unlike in 2024, Wednesday's hearing technically wasn't about the entire project, but was intended to give the public an opportunity to weigh in specifically about revisions proposed for the Wyoming Valley Interchange in Luzerne County.
Those revisions could result in fewer impacts on residents than initially expected, officials said Wednesday.
Project scope and changes
First proposed in 2018, the Scranton Beltway would provide high-speed connections between Interstate 81 and Interstate 476 — also known as the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike — at the Clarks Summit interchange in Lackawanna County and at the Wyoming Valley interchange in Luzerne County.
As previously reported, high-speed connector lanes are intended to give drivers the opportunity to make the transition between I-81 and I-476 more smoothly than they can now.
Why do this?
Because I-81 is often congested in the Scranton area and the Northeast Extension isn't: Turnpike officials say about 70,000 vehicles use I-81 each day between Pittston and Clarks Summit, while only about 11,000 use the turnpike.
While plans to widen I-81 are in the works, Turnpike officials believe the Beltway is needed in the meantime — and will remain so even after, as a means of diverting through traffic around the busiest areas of I-81 in Lackawanna and northern Luzerne counties.
But the benefit to motorists will come at a price to neighbors.
Officials previously said construction would require the Turnpike Commission to demolish six homes and acquire easements touching at least a dozen other properties.
Kevin Scheurich, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission assistant chief engineer for design, said proposed changes in the Wyoming Valley Interchange area include stormwater management as well as design changes to reflect state regulatory changes and inclusion of the Suscon Road bridge replacement as part of the project.
"We were able to add additional stormwater [capacity] between the Turnpike and [Interstate] 81 ... It's bigger than a football field," Scheurich said Wednesday.
As a result, designers were able to remove some proposed basins that would have impacted more properties, Scheurich said, though he declined to say what the exact number of properties to be bought or affected could be.
"A lot of folks will focus on total acquisitions, and I get that, but there are partial acquisitions too, and they're just as important," Scheurich said. "Folks are being impacted, and you know even when there's not an acquisition, there's still an impact."
Residents speak out
Dupont resident Lorraine Piechota acknowledged that her family's Penn Avenue home won't be directly affected, but she feels for those whose properties will be — and for the quality of life in their neighborhood.
"To the people who spoke tonight who are personally impacted to an extent that I am not impacted, I'm so sorry," the Luzerne County resident said. "I'm not fighting the same fight that you are."
Piechota said that the noise from commercial vehicles already is "beyond words at certain times of day," and she worries that noise barriers proposed for the project won't be adequate. She also worries that trees cut down for the project will remove another buffer.
"The wooded area serves almost as a natural noise barrier. So if we lose even one tree in that area, we're going to notice a difference," Piechota said.
Cheryl Sempa Radkiewicz, a resident of South Abington Twp. in Lackawanna County, lives near the northern interchange. While not formally the subject of Wednesday's hearing, the proposed work there was on her mind — as well as the value of the entire project.
"The Scranton Beltway Project is proposed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a project that, to me, has no means of succeeding," Radkiewicz said.
"The majority of residents involved in this eminent domain project are senior citizens. For us to have to spend our entire lives paying off our homes, only to be taken by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for the Scranton Beltway, is beyond criminal," she added.
Radkiewicz pointed to the low number of vehicles using the Turnpike each day in the project area and suggested high tolls will continue to keep drivers away, even after the Beltway is finished.
The 16-mile trip between the Wyoming Valley and Clarks Summit interchanges costs a two-axle vehicle $3.44 with EZ-Pass and $6.88 without it at the current rates. (When WVIA previewed a pair of November 2024 hearings, those tolls were $3 and $6.40, respectively.)
The Turnpike has increased tolls for 18 consecutive years through 2026, and due to financial obligations, appears likely to continue doing so. The commission this year approved a 3.5% systemwide toll increase that will take effect Jan. 3, 2027.
"Motorists will not pay the tolls," Radkiewicz said. "This is not a solution to solving the Route 81 traffic problem. Only more lanes on 81 will."
She also suggested planners need to take a fresh look at traffic statistics.
"Our home sits directly across from the end of the turnpike at Clarks Summit, and I can actually count the cars on any given day, both going north and south. You need an updated traffic study," Radkiewicz said.
What happens next
Wednesday's hearing was part of a 30-day comment period, which opened Oct. 12 and will remain open until Nov. 20.
That means people can still submit testimony, even if they didn't speak at the hearing. Information on how to do so can be found here.
After that, Scheurich said comments from the 2024 hearings and Wednesday's hearings will be included in the final Environmental Assessment (EA) document.
Turnpike officials will then submit that to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to issue a ruling on whether the project can proceed.
If the feds issue what is known as a FONSI, or finding of no significant impact, "that would allow final design to start, which would take approximately four years," Scheurich said.
"That's where we get into the nitty-gritty of the detail of the calculations, making sure that our assumptions of preliminary design work during final design," he added.
According to current estimates, construction would begin in 2031, he said, and last four years.
