Penn dot
POINT TOWNSHIP — PennDOT’s draft plan for the Route 147/CSVT interchange continues to worry some Northumberland area residents – and now they have a petition. We spoke to Dick Updegraff, a resident of Ridge Road in Point Township, in November, who says the proposed interchange will pump heavy traffic directly onto his road.
He said, “This proposed interchange provides an on and off ramp onto Ridge Road. I don’t quite understand the need for it… The new CSVT roadway will eventually just empty right onto Route 180, without the interchange. This interchange is going to, in effect, just turn Ridge Road into an extension of the bypass.”
Updegraff says anyone who doesn’t need to go to Hummel’s Wharf, Shamokin Dam or Northumberland, would just use Ridge Road as an extension of the bypass to continue into Danville.
“Believe me, I will be the first one to say ‘it’s about time’ for the CSVT connector. It’s needed and it is much overdue. However, the proposed Route 147 Interchange is not needed and cannot be allowed to happen. It will be a mess. It will really be a mess. I seriously think PennDOT needs to rethink that interchange,” he said.
Updegraff says the Ridge Road – Route 11 intersection is already dangerous, and more traffic could make it deadly. He sent numerous e-mails to PennDOT and voiced his opinion at Point Township supervisor meetings – now he has made a petition.
Updegraff asks that supporters sign the petition: “PennDOT & the Northumberland, Point Township, PA Board of Supervisors: Cancel plans for the proposed Route 147 Interchange of the CSVT Project” at www.Change.org. The goal is to get 100 signatures. (Codi Jade)