DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Finding Chester County [31 Pa.B. 5764] Pursuant to the provisions of 71 P. S. Section 2002(b), the secretary of Transportation makes the following written finding:
The Department of Transportation plans to reconstruct the bridge on S.R. 3034, London Tract Road, that lies completely within the White Clay Creek Preserve located in the southeastern part of London Britain Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The Project site is 1.25 miles northwest of the Delaware-Pennsylvania border, midway between roadways PA 896 and PA 41.
The scope of the Project involves eliminating weight limit restrictions by providing a new bridge, and correcting the substandard sight distances and horizontal alignments of the approach roadways. The London Tract Road bridge approaches are under Township jurisdiction, while the bridge remains a PENNDOT structure, and therefore, retains the PENNDOT S.R. 3034 nomenclature as per a pre-Project municipal turnback agreement.
The proposed bridge replacement project will impact two (2) Section 2002 resources, the London Tract Historic District which was determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, and the White Clay Creek Preserve, a part of the Pennsylvania State Park System. Based upon these studies, there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the minor right of way take of 0.3094 acres from the White Clay Creek Preserve. The State Historic Preservation Office has concurred in a letter dated August 28, 2000, that the Project will have no adverse effect on the National Register eligible London Tract Historic District.
The Project is being designed to be aesthetically compatible with the adjacent London Tract Historic District, and it will not substantially impair protected attributes or contributing elements of this surrounding cultural resource. Roadway embankment that has been affected by roadway reconstruction will be reseeded in accordance with a native species Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural resources landscaping plan. Roadway impacts will be minimized by reducing lane and shoulder widths to minimums allowed, and by providing grass shoulders and timber guiderails on roadway approaches.
The replacement bridge will have a lower profile, longer span superstructure with new abutments behind the existing stream banks. Cast-stone form liners will be implemented on bridge concrete.
Stream environment will be protected wetland fencing, biologs and stream edge plantings, and a Chester County-approved erosion and sedimentation plan. In-stream construction will be prohibited from March 1 through June 15 in order to protect the high quality fish population.
I have considered the environmental, economic, social, and other effects of the proposed project as enumerated in Section 2002 of the Administrative Code, and have concluded that there is no feasible and prudent alternative to the project as designed, and all reasonable steps have been taken to minimize such effect. No adverse environmental effect is likely to result from the construction of the Project.
BRADLEY L. MALLORY,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 01-1854. Filed for public inspection October 12, 2001, 9:00 a.m.]
