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Officials formulate plan for removing contaminated soil from Driftwood Bridge site
By ADAM VOSLER
Era Reporter
a.vosler@bradfordera.com
Officials have formulated a plan for removing contaminated material found months ago during Driftwood Bridge construction: directly transporting it to the Greentree Landfill near Kersey.
“We’ve chosen to air on the side of caution,” Marla Fannin, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesperson, explained Wednesday.
Original plans were to move the soil to the same site where PennDOT stores antiskid material. Apparently, some residents in that area were not happy about the possibility.
“Although we are confident that the material is not going to be detrimental to anybody’s health or to the environment, I think there was some opposition with some of the neighbors,” said Ben LaParne, who oversees PennDOT construction projects. “The decision was made, rather than get the people up in arms, we’d just continuing hauling (soil) down to the landfill.”
The affected material has, however, been classified in such a way that it could have a positive commercial use, according to Fannin.
PennDOT has revealed the contaminating substance to be a petroleum-type material. From the 1950s to early 1970s, the site had been home to a facility that reportedly used open burning.
“It (came from) a process where they used to strip the wire, and they would recycle and process the wire,” LaParne said.
PennDOT had halted construction of the new Driftwood Bridge in March after crews discovered a strong odor while moving soil near the span. A few workers went to a hospital following the incident, but were OK.
Clean-up by the bridge will be “probably completed by Friday,” according to LaParne, and crews should resume construction at the beginning of next week. The bridge’s deck is already on, and the project is about three-quarters done, LaParne estimated.
“Our guys have been able to work on the project (at spots) other than where we had the contamination,” Fannin added.
LaParne is hoping that the bridge-building process will finally be over before the new year.
“And then through the winter, we’ll probably remove the old structure,” he said.
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