While it’s been almost two years since Hurricane Ida swept through the country, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has just now began clearing debris from our local waterways.
After Hurricane Ida made landfall in late August 2021, it caused heavy rain and deadly flooding in the northeastern United States. Cambria, Bedford, and Huntingdon counties were left with storm debris that crews have only just began cleaning up Monday.
“Fortunately, the extent of any kind of damage done by the hurricane to our counties really is minimal,” said Monica R. Owens, safety press officer at PA Department of Transportation. “There’s no structural damage to any bridges or roadways. What mostly happened was the storm impacted the waterways and a lot of rock and debris had washed down from upstream that kind of built up in the middle of the waterways and our crews are going in to remove that rock and any tree limbs or other debris out of there to reestablish the channel and divert water back to where it’s supposed to go.”
The cleanup will occur along routes 1020 and 3001, on Cooks Mill road in Bedford County. Route 913 in Huntington County, and routes 3015, 164, and 53 in Cambria County. There will be a detour on Cooks Mill Road later on in the process.
“There will be minimal daylight traffic control with flaggers, There may be some delays, but we really just want to make sure that motorists are using caution and driving slowly through the construction zone and watching out for personnel. There shouldn’t be any significant traffic delays.”
The cleanup project costs almost $400,000 and has been delayed many times.
“Since this has been weather dependent that’s part of the reason it’s been delayed so many times, In addition to the funding and other issues. When it storms it’s not safe to get out there and clean things out.”
The project is expected to be completed by mid-July this year.