February 2025 Update on I-80 Reconstruction

Rep. Tarah Probst February 20, 2025 | 4:04 PM

February 2025 Update on I-80 Reconstruction

My office attended the latest monthly Lenape meeting at the library in Middle Smithfield Township. During the meeting, they pulled up a large map which showed an area of Bryant Street via Monroe County Pennsylvania GIS. On the map, the land behind the homes along Bryant Street is shown stretching out to the edge of route I-80 East. One very interesting observation is that McMichael’s Creek, upon close inspection, appears to have been cut off by the construction of I-80. Clearly visible is a body of water along the back land of Bryant Street that PennDOT documents often refer to as a “vernal pool.” This pool appears to be a severed segment of McMichael’s Creek, that, after being dislocated, became a “vernal pool.”

Further evidence of this is that, according to a recent email received by my office from PennDOT, artifacts carbon dated to be at least 5,000-7,000 years old were found around the area of the pond during their Phase I and II digs. It is my understanding from discussions with those close to Lenape history that Native American tribes built villages along McMichael’s Creek and relied heavily on the creek for fishing and survival.

Please see the photos below (McMichael’s Creek on Bryant Street 1 and 2) and observe the water (dark spots) between Bryant Street and I-80 East, with water that appears to be the tip of McMichael’s Creek (now referred to as a “vernal pool.”)

Pennsylvania’s own documents reveal that vernal pools are protected bodies of water.

On page 2 of the above linked document, a “best management practice” includes, “2) Protect the vernal pool basin floor. … Year round, regardless of if the pool is wet or dry, keep out motorized vehicles, heavy equipment…”

Having a highway that butts up to a vernal pool does not provide protection of the pool, nor is expanding the highway that is already there. Cars and heavy equipment that pass that close to the vernal pool/severed tip of McMichael’s Creek pollute the pool with their mere presence, exhaust, gas fumes, leaking oil and gas as they pass by.

On page 4 of the above linked document, a “best management practice” includes, “4) Maintain good water quality. Avoid all use of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals such as road salts in or near the pool basin.” Road salts can’t possibly be kept off those grounds as close as the highway is to the pool.

On pages 4 and 5 of the document, it talks about “Vernal Pool Core Habitat,” which suggests a core minimum of 100-200 feet is required from the edge of a pool as a “protection zone.” It further says to create a corridor of “twice the width of the core distance” to capture slightly more distant pools that are greater than the core distance but less than 1,000 feet from another pool. (See vernal pool recommended management zones document/image below, taken from the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (a partner of PA DCNR, PA Fish and Boat, PA Game commissions).

We would like to know if “post mold marks” and “red ochre” were identified in the Phase I and II PennDOT digs. Such findings likely indicate the past presence of “wigwams” and evidence of “burial traditions” by tribes in the area, per research and testimony my office has encountered.

Furthermore:

We request proof that PennDOT did not alter the course of McMichael’s Creek and conduct construction on top of the creek area during the construction of I-80 in the 1950s-1970s.
We request proof that the construction of I-80 overtop the right arm of McMichael’s Creek (referred to as a “vernal pool”) did not create significant ecological damage.
We request proof that the construction of I-80 in the middle of Stroudsburg, the only town to experience that in the commonwealth, did not create community damage, including any historical letters, affidavits and statements from meetings, hearings and community gatherings that were provided by the community to PennDOT when the project was announced in the 1950s.
We request a full copy of the environmental impact survey and assessment which has been conducted for the current I-80 expansion project in the area of and including the “vernal pool.”
We request a full environmental impact survey by PennDOT of the “vernal pool” on the land to the east of I-80 and the back of Bryant Street, if one has not already been conducted
We request a meeting with PennDOT to discuss the above findings.