Turnpike Expansion Takes Land, Provides No Sound Barrier

As plans develop to add lanes to a turnpike in Pennsylvania, residents are upset over large losses in property and no provisions for sound barriers.

1 minute read

August 7, 2007, 1:00 PM PDT

By Nate Berg

"The $250 million to $300 million expansion will upgrade the most heavily traveled four-lane stretch of turnpike in Pennsylvania. Turnpike officials have warned some residents that they could lose almost their entire backyards - up to 25 feet - in the expansion, set to begin in earnest in 2011."

"Seven years ago, when the commission announced plans to widen 101/2 miles of the expressway, all of Towamencin was promised a sound wall, residents say."

"But at an April meeting attended by homeowners from the length of the expansion, officials said that some communities would receive no wall."

"It will be at least a year before the Turnpike Commission tells residents how much land it will take. Until then, those in Moyer's enclave - like homeowners in several Plymouth, Whitpain, Upper Gwynedd, and Worcester Township neighborhoods - are wrangling over measures to make post-expansion life more bearable."

"Towamencin residents say they are the victims of flawed acoustical studies that the Turnpike Commission will not let them see."

FULL STORY: Homeowners don't like the sound of no barriers

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 in The Philadelphia Inquirer

Land Use Transportation Pennsylvania

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