By Evan Jones, The Morning Call,
1 hour ago
Nearly 19 months after a rock slide closed Route 611 in Delaware Water Gap and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area — and nine months after the initial estimated date to reopen it — the road remains closed. And that likely won’t change this year, or possibly anytime soon.
Dozens of pages of emails between PennDOT and the National Park Service obtained by The Morning Call through Freedom of Information Act requests show a constant back and forth, with some email chains going over several weeks and seeming to demonstrate a lack of urgency that has upset residents, business owners and local officials.
The stretch of highway, which winds through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area from Portland and Upper Mount Bethel Township in Northampton County to Delaware Water Gap Borough in Monroe County, has been blocked to all traffic since December 2022, forcing drivers on lengthy and expensive detours.
“It’s been extremely frustrating,” said John Bermingham, chair of the Upper Mount Bethel Board of Supervisors. “We have a lot of businesses that are being affected by this delay. It’s killing local business.
“I understand you have to make it safe, but let’s get things done quicker,” he said. “The problem with the government is just all the bureaucracy, the red tape. Everything goes through such a slow process and you wonder why the government gets criticized and doesn’t get the support of the people.”
Emails between agencies working to reopen the road show answers to questions didn’t come back immediately, sometimes taking days or weeks.
For example, on Jan. 19, 2023, Jerry Neal, an environmental planner manager with PennDOT, emailed officials from the National Recreation Area to ask if a special use permit from the NPS was necessary for clearing out the rock and mitigating further slides.
“I noticed that no one mentioned the possible use of an NPS special use permit for this project,” Neal wrote. “Is that something that PennDOT can apply for and use in this instance?”
On Jan. 31, Neal wrote again with the same question, noting it was on the agenda for a meeting scheduled Feb. 2.
Eamon Leighty, deputy superintendent of the National Recreation Area, wrote back Feb. 1 that, indeed, a special use permit for construction is what is normally used in these types of circumstances. Leighty said there would be several issues to figure out as well, such as land ownership.
PennDOT spokesperson Sean Brown did not give a specific, updated timeline on the project, but said the department resubmitted a special use permit application to do work in the national recreation area in early April. It needs the permit from the National Park Service before starting any scaling activities to prevent further rockslides.
“PennDOT’s intent and goal is to open PA 611 to a single lane condition as soon as it can be done,” Brown told The Morning Call. “Once all approvals are secured the work to get the road open to a single lane is expected to take several months.”
PennDOT officials have said the first phase of construction would begin as soon as the final clearance is given and is expected to take up to six months, which could hold back any vehicles passing through the area until at least early 2025.
Discussions also are ongoing between the department and NPS to develop a plan for additional work to get both lanes open.
“Reopening this 3-mile stretch of Route 611 is a crucial issue that will be solved through interagency cooperation,” said U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8th District, who has been meeting monthly with officials involved with the project. “I am grateful to the public officials involved in these meetings and optimistic that this working collaboration will help speed this project along.”
“Know that I echo the frustration felt by Pennsylvanians who relied on Route 611 in their daily lives, and am doing everything I can to move this process along,” said U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-7th District.
However, the required correlation between the two agencies, which has been going on for nearly 19 months, hasn’t led to a speedy resolution.
Back and forth
The emails contain attempts to set up meetings, plans for remediation of the rocks, reports on potential effects to historic areas and artifacts and permit applications to conduct the construction inside the park. Those applications included seeking permission to conduct work on tribal land.
In other words, it’s typical bureaucratic communication that you would find between different parts of government, or in private business, as the barricades remained. Meanwhile, residents, officials and business owners at both ends of the closure have had to deal with detours and fewer visitors.
One email chain regarding PennDOT’s special use application, dated July 21, discusses the scheduling of a Sept. 28 meeting between PennDOT, the Federal Highway Administration and NHS officials at the park’s Bushkill Meeting Center.
“Thank you for submitting the Special Use Permit application and supporting compliance documentation for your proposed project on PA 611 within the boundaries of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the viewshed of the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River, submitted in late July and August. The National Park Service has reviewed the documentation, and our comments are attached. All comments must be addressed prior to a permit being issued,” wrote Delaware Water Gap Superintendent Doyle Sapp in the email to Chris Kurfo, executive from PennDOT District 5.
“As we have said since January, this is a process that we are required to undertake to preserve the natural, cultural, and recreational resources of an NPS unit. We have said that getting as much documentation as possible to us to support the permit request, could expedite the process. This includes the packages sent to the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office and the four Federally-recognized tribes affiliated with the park; and a complete proposal or scope of work for the project that defines how the contractors will stay in the right-of-way and impact lands of the United States, as well as the natural and cultural resources within.
“We are concerned about the safety of our visitors and staff, as well. We do have to balance how we mitigate safety measures with preservation of the valuable resources of the park, in ways that will not permanently impair those resources we are charged with protecting.
“To this end, I would like to propose an in-person meeting as soon as possible, with you and your staff to work through our comments and find a way to move forward that accomplishes both safety and preservation of the resources, and to help establish direct communication between our organizations. We would be happy to host such a meeting.”
Later on Sept. 28, Kufro thanked Sapp for hosting the meeting: “Thank you again for hosting the meeting today. I feel that progress was made today and that we can both find common ground to respect the park resources while getting the work done to open the road to one lane of traffic,” he wrote.
A week later, a draft news release written Oct. 5 by Kathleen Sandt, the park’s public affairs director, said: “In the coming weeks, PennDOT, [the highway administration], and NPS will continue to work together to complete the permit request and required environmental compliance. Additionally, PennDOT’s right-of-way will be marked, and a monitoring plan will be developed.
“While it is not possible to provide concrete dates or timelines, all parties continue to work together to achieve our mutual goals of safe passage for motorists and the protection of one of the park’s most significant resources, the Delaware Water Gap, which holds state, national, and tribal significance.”
Kufro approved the draft Oct. 10 and PennDOT Engineer Scott Cressman did so the following day.
Meanwhile, Cressman set up an Oct. 17 walkthrough at the site with NPS officials Jonathan Malzone and Kara Deutsch, though Malzone warned that it may have to be postponed if there were a government shutdown that would postpone a meeting indefinitely. The shutdown was averted days before the meeting.
‘It adds up’
The seeming lack of urgency has irked officials for months .
Bermingham said Cartwright’s meetings are informative — Upper Mount Bethel has a liaison that participates in them — but wishes the updates came more often.
The only way through the water gap these days is a curvy section of Interstate 80 on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, which is undergoing its own construction and features heavy truck traffic. Travelers also have to cross two toll bridges to use the interstate.
“I think we need it more often because people are coming to me every day,” Bermingham said, “and they’re like, ‘When is it getting down to one lane?’ I don’t know. I don’t have a definite date. They told me this year, they told me next year, but a lot of people are upset because they have to go through and pay the toll over the Portland bridge.
“When you’re doing that five days a week to get to work that adds up, and with the expensive price of gas and the addition of going through the toll both ways, you’re hitting people in the pocket,” he said.
Portland Mayor Heather Fischer said at least one borough business has had to shut down, while others have reduced hours.
Appearing May 16 before a Northampton County Council committee, Tara Mezzanotte of the I-80 Delaware Water Gap Coalition gave a presentation on New Jersey’s road work for a stretch of Interstate 80 along the Garden State’s side of the Water Gap.
She was also asked about Route 611.
“I understand PennDOT is ready to go, but the National Park Service is the problem,” Commissioner Thomas Giovanni said.
Mezzanotte, who lives in Warren County, New Jersey, but has been a point person on all things related to the I-80 and Route 611 corridors, said officials “needed to work out the permits.”
“This is not I-95,” she said, referring to the quick repair of the interstate after a Philadelphia section collapsed because of a truck fire. She cited a litany of “considerations” that need to be incorporated on the repairs. They include national environmental police law and issues that involve Indian tribes, national wild and scenic river considerations and national historic properties.
She said she has not been updated on where things stood regarding Route 611 since earlier this year.
Another application in April
Most recently, PennDOT, NPS and Federal Highway Administration have held a series of meetings, according to Brown.
On Feb. 27, staff from the three agencies walked the closed section of Route 611 within the boundary of the national recreation area. PennDOT arranged for its contractor to have a crane on site, which allowed people to get an aerial view of several locations and they reviewed multiple proposed rock scaling locations to discuss potential work.
“They discussed possible alternative methods to be used at some locations instead of scaling, while still using scaling at other locations,” Brown said. “They also identified some locations that may not require any work but will require continued monitoring.”
Brown said there were discussions about alternatives to reduce or eliminate impacts to park resources while also providing for safe travel for motorists.
That has led to a more targeted approach that could allow work to proceed in some areas under a categorical exclusion, while a higher level of analysis is conducted in other areas.
A categorical exclusion is a class of actions that a federal agency has determined do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment. Under that, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is normally required. The use of categorical exclusions can reduce paperwork and save time and resources.
“Discussions about alternatives that would reduce or eliminate impacts to park resources while also providing for safe travel for motorists have led to a more targeted approach that could allow work to proceed in some areas under a categorical exclusion, while a higher level of analysis is conducted in other areas,” Sandt, the recreation area public information officer, said after an April meeting organized by Cartwright’s office. “We believe that things are moving in a very positive direction and will continue to collaborate with PennDOT and [the highway administration] to meet our mutual goals.”
Brown said the agencies met again in early April to review the reduced scaling scope of work in detail before PennDOT submitted a revised special use permit application.
He said PennDOT submitted the revised application April 4. It outlined the work agreed upon by both agencies. The NPS provided comments to the application April 19; PennDOT responded April 26 and is waiting for a response, Brown said.
“While the [permit application] is being reviewed by NPS, PennDOT is also preparing their own revised CE environmental clearance document to outline the reduced scaling scope of work and reduced impacts to resources,” Brown said.
The rock slide occurred on Mount Minsi, a defining feature of the recreation area that has a high level of significance for the ancestral homelands of four federally recognized Native American tribes, according to the National Park Service.
Part of this process includes tribal consultation. PennDOT sent letters April 11 to officially notify the tribes of the reduced scope of work, and the tribes had 30 days to respond. When responses are received, PennDOT can finalize the revised CE and provide an updated environmental clearance document.
If the seven tribes involved do not concur, according to PennDOT memo obtained by The Morning Call, it could delay work even further.
The NPS has stated it needs concurrence from all tribes to allow the CE-level environmental clearance. Otherwise, the NPS may need to prepare a higher level of environmental clearance document.
“All agencies are willing to move forward in a collaborative effort to increase safety on Route 611 and get to a point where the contractor can perform work to get traffic back on Route 611,” Brown said.
Reporter Anthony Salamone contributed to this story.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com .
For more stories,Subscribe to The Morning Call.