The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has announced the start of “Stage 3” of the Merwinsburg Road Realignment Project in Chestnuthill Township, which began last April and is expected to last until August of 2025. (Route 115 construction sets detour for northbound traffic; tnonline.com, Sep. 14, 2024.)

According to PennDOT, car and truck traffic headed north and south on Route 115 is being detoured onto Routes 715, 209, 534, and 903, for a combined total of nearly twenty-five miles of detour around the construction zone.

A large portion of this detour is routed along scenic rural roads bordered by forest, farmland, and native plant and animal communities, many of which include frequent wildlife crossings and animal fatalities.

The truck detour runs along the edge of State Game Lands # 129 in Lake Harmony, which is also a hot spot for wildlife crossings and vehicular-animal collisions, including deer, red and gray foxes, wild turkeys, squirrels, rodents, and others, whose remains are sometimes left to rot on the side of the road.

Rerouting traffic into these areas is irresponsible and could have ecological consequences for the West End of the Poconos.

The Chestnuthill Township board of supervisors — which sponsored this project in a frenzy to urbanize our scenic rural area — should be held liable for the animal deaths and other negative impacts resulting from this wasteful and unnecessary project.

Juliet Perrin

Albrightsville