DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Finding Indiana County [31 Pa.B. 3824] Pursuant to the provisions of 71 P. S. Section 2002(b), the Secretary of Transportation makes the following written finding:
The Department of Transportation is proposing a project to reconstruct existing U.S. Route 22 (S.R. 0022, Section 491) between the Route 22/119 interchange to the western end of the Armagh Bypass, a distance of 13.1 km (8.1 miles). The proposed facility will provide four lanes (two in each direction) and a median barrier in the center. Access will be provided at key intersections and crossing movements will be limited to those locations. Sight distances will be improved through adjustments to the horizontal and vertical alignments. The Department of Transportation has received environmental clearance in the form of a Finding of No Significant Impact from the Division Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. The project will require 0.35 hectares (0.87 acres) of land from within the boundaries of the National Register of Historic Places eligible Meanor Farm/Gazza Property. The project will also require 0.41 hectares (1.00 acres) of land from Pine Ridge Park and 10.97 hectares (27.1 acres) of land from State Game Lands Number 276.
The Meanor Farm/Gazza Property and the Price Farm Miller Property will be landscaped to minimize the visual and audible effect of the highway improvements on the property. These mitigation commitments are included in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the proposed action which has been signed by all appropriate agencies. Where a Section 6(f) Land conversion occurs in Pine Ridge Park, replacement land will be provided that is of an equal or greater fair market value and that is equivalent in recreational usefulness. The Pennsylvania Game Commission will receive fair market value monetary compensation for impacts to State Game Lands Number 276.
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.
BRADLEY L. MALLORY,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 01-1282. Filed for public inspection July 13, 2001, 9:00 a.m.]
