Allegheny Tunnel Transportation Improvement Project

Dear Prospective Stakeholder,

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) has planned to replace the Allegheny Mountain Tunnels for over two decades. The tunnels carry Interstate 70/76 traffic harmlessly beneath the eastern front of the Allegheny Mountain. During this planning process, proposals by the PTC to replace the tunnels with road cuts through the mountain have been nearly unanimously opposed by local, state, and federal elected representatives, wildlife, environmental and conservation groups, and the public in general. Opposition to a road cut started when the PTC initially proposed a road cut decades ago. A variety of parties and agencies opposed the project then and stalled the project at its inception.

However, despite past opposition, the PTC has now selected the Gray Cut option as its preferred alternative to replace the Allegheny Mountain Tunnels. The PTC’s callous disregard for the concerns of road cut opponents is an indication of its desire to ultimately eliminate all tunnels across its highway system.

Until now, the project has been in the study phase. The PTC has spent millions of dollars to minimize the concerns of cut opponents and support their position that a cut is the best option. In November of 2021, they published a Final Environmental Document that formally selected the Gray Cut as their preferred alternative. The Gray Cut highway project will carve a path of destruction through the very heart of the Allegheny Mountain. The road cut, at its apex, is proposed to be 250 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide across the top. It will forever place a scar through the Allegheny Mountain.

We believe the project, if not stopped, will destroy wildlife migration routes, adversely impact surface and groundwater resources, potentially impact public water supply recharge areas, displace wildlife, destroy hundreds of acres of mountain land, eliminate land currently used for recreation and children’s activities, expose the highway traveler to a mountainous microclimate that will include ice, snow, dense fog, and high winds, and create a highway that will endanger the traveling public. Disregarding all these concerns, the PTC has now begun the preliminary design phase of this destructive project.

The PTC will relentlessly push forward with its destructive project unless forced to stop and seriously consider other options. All those who oppose this destructive cut option must join together, in a unified front and under a unified organization, to have the capacity to stop the PTC Gray Cut. Therefore, concerned elected officials and citizens have organized a 501(c)(3) non-profit group, Citizens to Save the Allegheny Mountain (CTSAM). We would be honored if your organization would join the fight to stop the PTC destruction of the beautiful Allegheny Mountain and all its invaluable resources.

You can learn more about this project and CTSAM’s fight to stop it by visiting our website at savealleghenymountain.com. If you and your organization wish to help save the Allegheny Mountain, click the “Get Involved” button for options on how you may help.

This fight is too critical to lose. We need every conservation-minded person and organization in the region and the country to join with us in this noble effort. Once the PTC carves its road cut through the spine of Allegheny Mountain, it will never return to its current glory. Highway agencies and commercial development cannot continue to destroy our wild and wonderful places. They must be conserved for current and future generations.

I urge you to please go to our website now and join the fight. If you have questions, feel free to call me directly at 814-233-0351 or send an email to me at savethealleghenymountain@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Randall L. Musser, Chair, CSTAM