YATESVILLE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — People are frustrated in part of Luzerne County over a plan for a Beltway System to connect a pair of major highways in our area.
The more than $236,000,000 transportation project was first proposed in 2018.
The goal is to reduce congestion on Interstate 81 but it would mean several houses will have to go.
28/22 News was at a public hearing in Pittston Township Wednesday night.
The Scranton Beltway Project is meant to direct more traffic onto the Turnpike easing congestion on Interstate 81, but it comes at a price many homeowners in Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties aren't willing to pay.
"How would you like to have your mother lose her house?" Mayor of Dupont Elaine Lello said.
A passionate plea from the Mayor of Dupont fighting on behalf of homeowners to kill a proposed project that would change the future of transportation in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.
Lello was one of many who turned out at a public hearing in Yatesville Wednesday night over the Scranton Beltway Project.
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The goal of the project is to drive traffic off of Interstate 81 and direct it onto the northeast extension of the Turnpike.
"The amount of traffic you are going to dump from 81 onto that beltway is minimal compared to what you are going to buy out memories and families there on that town right now," said Pittston Township resident Renee Kaminski.
The town of Dupont is where some of the properties would be affected.
Three of the homes on Hemlock and Florence Streets belong to the Kaminski family.
"They are taking 10 acres of land that my grandparents built in the late 50s," Kaminski explained.
The project would include the addition of several retention ponds to help with water runoff.
One would be placed right where two of the homes are located.
There will also be two connections: One South of Scranton in Dupont Borough and Pittston Township and the other North of Scranton in South Abington Township.
"There's a lot of congestion and accidents on 1-81 and this is providing an alternative route for residents and enhancing mobility in the region," said Turnpike Total Reconstruction and Expansion Manager Brian Mostek
Mostek said noise barriers will be added to minimize the noise once the project is done.
But Kaminski says it's too much construction for too little benefit.
"I mean us local people are not going to pay the tolls to go on the Turnpike for nothing and make 81 three lanes. I know I'm not jumping on the Turnpike to go to Montage," Kaminski explained.
There's another public hearing on Thursday at Abington Heights High School.
Mostek says the final stages of the project are projected for spring 2025 and the construction is said to start in 2030.
