Pittsburgh & Environment

Businessmen can tell you. Delivery men can tell you. Mailmen can tell you. Truck drivers can tell you.

Pennsylvania has terrible roads. The worst in the country, probably.

I drive almost every day on Route 28. This road is a very special place in my life. I drive north on it to get to my camp. I drive south to go to work, go to school, visit Pittsburgh, visit friends. When hiking on the Rachel Carson Trail, I get a nice aerial view of it from the various hills that parallel it. When walking to my wildspot, I can see portions of it. I can see portions of the various large hills that were broken by dynamite in order to make that road. When sitting at my wild spot, I can hear the cars driving on that road.

Before history books were written,
family blood ran through this land,
thrashed against mountain walls and in streams,
fed seeds, and swords, and flowers.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

But this road, it cut through large hills, forest-land, streams, and other various natural habitats, including people's homes. When driving on a side-road with my ex, he pointed at crumbled foundations that spotted small plots of land between thin trees. He pointed to a particular foundation of bricks and said his family lived there until Route 28 was being constructed. When driving along the road, I always take care to look at the sliced mountains that bear their various layers and stratigraphy of rock and dirt. The differing shades of browns and yellows and grays. It is glorious to look at but devastating to comprehend.

But the most devastating realization is that this 97 mile-long highway is always under construction. Although it is built and developed, it seems to be going through a constant rennovation or face-lift. If they're not widening the lanes near the Cheswick exit, then they're adding lanes near the Sharpsburg exit. About seven years ago, plans were developed to turn natural farming and forest landscape into Pittsburgh Mills Mall--a mall that is architecturally appealing, but not doing so well financially. I was away in college when the construction of the mall was taking place, but I do recall a lot of levelling machines and bulldozers. I go up that way often to shop at Wal-Mart or go to Starbucks and god, the sky is so beautiful up near that mall, which is perched on top of a large, elevated land.

But face it. Construction projects always disturb the natural landscape. Luckily, there are laws now that forbid road construction or development if it causes a disturbance to a natural habitat to an endangered species. When driving around Altoona with my boyfriend, he pointed at a hill covered moss-like with trees and mentioned how there were once plans to build a road through that hill, but those plans were cancelled because that hill belonged to an endangered species of owls.

So, when construction jobs such as these take place, there are regulations that the developers must follow. It is important to preserve the various surfaces of water flows, be them above or below ground. This helps sustain the species that inhabit the area.

Luckily, PENNDOT funds various research projects that are conducted by professionals and students in universities such as Pitt. For instance, PENNDOT funded the Swanson School of Engineering so that they can study new concepts of roadway design that will help improve the environment. I'll have to keep this in mind next time I'm stuck in traffic and wriggling in my seat, impatient with PENNDOT.