Travel Advisory for North-Central PA.

Hello fellow riders!

I want to post a travel advisory for anyone riding in or through the north-central PA region any time in the near future. If you were not aware, this area of PA is currently being mined for its natural gas supply many miles below the earth's surface. The result of all of this drilling is yet to be determined (environmentally). All politics aside, if you are traveling State Routes 120, 144, 44, 287, 87, 872, 414 or US Routes 6 and 15, please travel with caution.

These are the main roads that the hydrofracking trucks and all of the gas well construction workers are traveling. They are traveling at high rates of speed and take up the whole road. Most of the workers are from Texas and I guess are not used to the windy mountain roads that they are driving on. It is not uncommon to come around a turn and a semi is well over the yellow line barreling directly for you! Also, the weight of the trucks is tearing up the roads. Many sections of the above listed roads are ripped up, even down to dirt in some places. Many roads have lots of loose stone/gravel on the road as a result of the gas trucks pulling onto them from well sites.

Please do not let this post deter you from riding these roads. They are awesome to ride and scenically beautiful (especially in the autumn). I just wanted to give everyone a heads up so that they are prepared for what they might encounter when traveling these roads.

Safe riding...

-Doug

One more...

Please add State Route 664 to that list as well.

Is this recent? I've ridden all of those within the past two months and didn't notice anything.

This post hints of someone with an agenda. The situation, as described, is a gross exaggeration, in my opinion.

I live in the area myself and while there has been some road damage caused by trucks, the roads are generally no better or worse than the rest of the roads in this part of PA. Further, Cabot (one of the natural gas drillers in the area) has been repairing any damage done and, further, just announced and has actually begun work on making major road improvements in the area. Their intention is to make improvements to the roads now so that they won't have to be repaired later.

See the news report below for more details:

http://www.wnep.com/wnep-susq-drilling-roads,0,5893569.story

Over exaggeration...maybe.

XTrooper,

My original post might have been a little over exaggerated. My only intention was to alert riders who might be passing through the area of added big truck traffic. For the record, regardless of where one stands politically, the fact remains that traffic on these mountain roads has increased. Especially for larger trucks hauling materials to and from the drill sites. There are areas of the road, especially near drill pads, that are covered with loose stones and gravel. Also, another rider mentioned to me just yesterday that he was following a gas company truck that was spilling residual waste (as he described a gray sludge) on to the road that was extremely slippery. Also, I personally have experienced first hand gas truck drivers that drive entirely too fast for the road and end up flying around turns half way (or more) into the other lane.

My intention was not to push any agenda, only to alert fellow riders of what they might encounter when riding through the region.

Hope that clears up my over exaggeration.

PS - Major sections of Rte 44 have recently been repaved. Why was it repaved? Trucks had ripped up the hard surface, reducing it to dirt in some areas. Especially the stretch from Haneyville to Hyner Mtn. Road.

Repairs being paid for?!

Please stop the CABOT workers and send them our way. The gas companies that are currently drilling in Clinton, Lycoming and Potter counties are not (at least as of now) repairing roads. Tax payers have been.

Northeast Pa

First off I was at a local meeting on Wednesday night about the Gas Drilling north of Bloomsburg including the area north and west regions of Luzerne County. My neighbor was discussing the truckers. He once was a teacher, turned logger, turned log hauler now owns and operates water transport trucks under natural gas company contracts.........the opposition will say he is just a capitalist and he is loyal where he gets his paycheck. BUT.......

# 1. He could not speak for all the companies but for Chesapeake Energy and ENCANA. Both are very strict with their drivers and contractors. Their drivers are tracked with a computer program that monitors their location and speed, furthermore they are designated to travel only on certain roads that were approved by the County and / or Township Officers. Meaning if you are local and know a shortcut you can't deviate from it.

# 2. On the well site the truckers are to stop in a designated spot, drivers can't step out of their rig unless they are wearing a hard hat and safety glasses. They have to spread a barrier beneath their truck on site to assure no transportation fluids are lost that could contaminate the site. Violating these drill pad rules caused some not to return.......that serious ! The other day a logging truck decided to take a different way home and didn't and lost his contract ( Some of the sites are being put in the forest to protect the appearance of the land post operations............so count them in the fix ).

# 3. Pennsylvania State Police have cracked down on the violators of the road, state gas company agreements, fines to suspensions have occurred and things locally seem to be a non-issue. I wish they would crack down on the school bus drivers who think they own the road. But PSP are responsible for most of the rural lands and their staffing is under funded making them stretched thin. So as a resident be proactive and get the truck number and call their boss. They may not loose their job but their wings will get clipped, fined etc etc And certainly the gas company doesn't want bad press from accidents.

# 4. Cabot has a bad track record in some areas, they do not have the financial resources that others have and they have "rushed" and had some accidents. Their actions have raised alot of environmental issues, regulations blah blah blah . Verses the science and economic side saying there is way too much pressure than expected beneath the earth and they are moving too fast to get more resources.

How booming is it here ? My trucker friend has 10 rigs hauling 2,000 gallons of water to a fracking / drilling operation. He is able to pay new drivers 20 dollars an hour and he was told that he will have to provide ten more trucks before November. He is purchasing Peterbuilts so the money must be excellent.

My riding experience has NOT been a problem with any of them, they even waved me by in places since they were doing the speed limit. They all have been above board but where I live its the two big companies.

Road work ? These companies are first rate, I live on a road that the township paved three years ago but the last mile they ran out of money leaving one of the worse cracked roads you could imagine. The gas company shows up at a Township meeting and say they will pay for any damaged road they cause.....meaning all of them. So the township had them routed on the bad roads, the gas company didn't like driving on it so they paved it and provided their own contractor. One of the residents complained that their driveway didn't match up with the road so they fixed that. The dirt road they are working on was widened and is better than some of the paved roads near by. They even made it dust free with calcium ( ?) and watered the dust down, they have their trucks going slow and the only complaints are about the gawkers showing up to see what is going on.

On a lighter note, the gas companies say there is more natural gas in this area than any where in the world........sounds like ...... to me but a local farmer secured a lease at 3,000 dollars an acre up front and after the well was set he received 650,000 dollars as a first royalty payment. I don't know the math but apparently in Texas a new well will produce 2 million cubic something over a set time, here they are getting 21 million cubic feet. Even those with one acre of land are getting a grand a month in Bradford County ( north central ) if they leased........again this is just talk but Williamsport Hospital put on a new wing with donations, Protor & Gamble has 5 gas wells and they are off the grid with new work expansion coming their way so it must be true. All the businesses are booming, new work for contractors, new cars , trucks, kitchens & bath, packed Mom& Pop restaurants etc etc ............but the Greenies, Native Americans who want to protect their sacred river and those who purchased new land but forgot to see if they have mineral rights are causing much concern, threaten violence etc etc .

I will monitor the situation as we get near the rally time. And if you want to add another road, Rt 187 Wyalusng to Derrell.......Because the water well were these trucks drink from is along here and I want that road to myself, me and those truckers playing Dual. Hahaha............Anyway Pennsylvania has many roads......... we will be fine............. And RT 6 always sucked because its marked 45 mph most of the way.