I-70 project brings highway noise to South Huntingdon family's front door
Living with I70 as your front yard
Linda Samm and Larry Amati, of South Huntingdon, discuss the changes to their property over the past 29 years. What once included a thick row of trees and brush, hiding truck traffic and deadening the sound, now is a clear cut hill with no reprise from the sounds of the highway.
A South Huntingdon couple's dream of peace and quiet in their retirement years may have been shattered by updates to a section of Interstate 70 that overlooks their home.
As PennDOT prepares to widen I-70 to upsize the median and berms, a project contractor recently stripped trees from a narrow embankment that separates the four-lane interstate from Smithton Pike. That removed a natural barrier that helped muffle the nearly constant traffic noise that now assails Linda Samm, 68, and Larry Amati, 70, at their home on the opposite side of the township pike.
Samm said the couple, who have lived in the home for nearly 30 years, can no longer relax on their rear deck.
"We can't even go outside. We have to keep our doors shut," she said. "We're still working part-time, but we'd like to enjoy the time we have."
The loss of the line of trees between their house and the interstate also has diminished the couple's privacy, Samm said.
"It takes away your sense of security," she said.
Samm said the couple expressed their concerns to PennDOT several times, most recently on Friday, but remained unsure Monday about PennDOT's intentions concerning their property.
A neighboring home to the west was purchased and demolished to make way for the highway project, but Samm and Amati have received no such offer for their property. They've hired Greensburg attorney John Scales to represent their interests.
"We're just waiting to see what PennDOT is going to do," Amati said.
PennDOT District 12 Executive Joseph Szczur told the Tribune-Review that PennDOT doesn't intend to encroach on or purchase any of Samm and Amati's property as it makes improvements and alterations to I-70 and the Smithton Pike.
"Everything that we're doing in front of their property is being done within the department's right-of-way or the township's," Szczur said.
Directly west of the couple's land, PennDOT will develop sedimentation and retention ponds and will shift the township road away from the interstate, he said.
PennDOT representatives "have been in continuous dialogue with these folks now that the project is in construction," Szczur said. "We appreciate and understand what their concerns are.
"We empathize with them. It's a tough situation."
Assistant District 12 Executive Rachel Duda said PennDOT is reassessing the project plan to see if it can avoid relocating the township road 8 feet toward Samm and Amati's home. That shift would disrupt the couple's fencing and trees but would remain within the township right-of-way, she said.
Samm said she'd been told noise-level readings outside her home were excessive but PennDOT's project budget would not cover a sound barrier.
"Based on the length and height that would need to be put there, it wasn't reasonable to install (a sound wall)," Duda said. The maximum square footage divided by the number of benefiting dwellings — one, in this case — must not exceed 2,000 to be considered reasonable, according to PennDOT.
A consultant has projected that noise levels along I-70 in the area will change little, with or without the road improvements — from 70-72 decibels in 2014 to 71-73 decibels by 2037. Duda couldn't say if that study accounted for the removal of trees bordering the interstate.
She said PennDOT may be able to restore trees near Samm and Amati's home if it can find another location for a new message board.
Work on Smithton Pike is one of the first phases of the multi-year I-70 project that also includes reconstructing the nearby Route 31 interchange.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.
