Sentinel photo by CONNER GOETZ
Centre County residents consider proposed construction on Route 322 during a PennDOT meeting at Mount Nittany Middle School Wednesday.

BOALSBURG — Centre County residents expressed concern about potential environmental impact, right-of-way purchases and a Route 45 connector proposal during PennDOT community meetings on the State College Area Connector program.

The meeting, which allowed residents to review the draft Planning and Environmental Linkage Study for the SCAC project, were held Wednesday and Thursday at Mount Nittany Middle School. The project aims to improve transportation safety and efficiency in south Centre County.

PEL studies are a preliminary stage that identifies overarching project objectives, and considers which course of action best meets community, economic and environmental goals. The PEL studies results are refined into more detailed Preliminary Engineering/Environmental Studies (NEPA), which assess specific impacts of the project.

PennDOT District 2 officials presented nine potential alternatives to improve traffic flow along Route 322 and displayed the benefits and drawbacks of each proposal.

The eventual goal is to make Route 322 a four-lane highway that would extend from Lewistown to the start of the Mount Nittany Expressway; currently, the highway is still two lanes from Potters Mills to Boalsburg.

At the meeting, PennDOT indicated it is still on track to begin construction in 2028.

Three recommended alternatives were highlighted: 322-1OEX, an improvement on the existing roadway, 322-1S, a newly constructed partial section to the south of 322, and 332-5, a larger section built farther south than 322-1S.

After a brief presentation by Kevin James, associate vice president of Michael Baker International, an engineering consulting firm, highlighting the draft PEL studies’ findings, PennDOT officials led a question and answer session with attendees.

John Collins, a resident of Centre Hall, asked about including accommodations for multi-modal transport, such as electric vehicle charging stations and bus stops, in the final plans.

“With any project that we do, especially on new alignment, we have to look at all modes of transportation,” Tom Zurat, PennDOT district 2 executive, said. “The commitment to … multi-modal is part of the process, and we will definitely look at that.”

A main point of contention during the session was the potential Route 45 connector, which may be constructed to divert some traffic away from Route 322 during the construction process.

“At this point we just don’t know,” Zurat said, “we have to further look at what our traffic model will become as we move forward, and does that affect safety or not, does that alignment connector need to be there.”

While the fate of the Route 45 connector is still up in the air, another attendee, Janine Page said she wants to see further study before any final decision is made.

“I saw the chart where you talked about the whole analysis of the environmental impacts on birds, wetlands and all those things … I want to make sure all of that goes into evaluating whether or not we need this connector,” Page said.

Resident Keith McElheny inquired about potential right-of-way purchases along the new alignment.

“Every single route goes either by or through my house, so my concern would be that you are going to destroy my family by paying me the lowest my home is worth going into a recession,” McElheny said.

Currently, PennDOT appraisers assess “just compensation” for right of way purchases based on local real estate trends, the value of comparable properties and estimated damages, with no specific payment amount.

“We understand that this is not an easy process for anybody, we do have a right-of-way process that we will be following and we will be sorting it out for anybody who may be impacted by the study,” Dean Ball, PennDOT assistant district executive, said.

While there is no set date yet, the next public meeting to discuss NEPA study findings will take place in either winter 2023 or spring 2024.