Morning Call: September 14, 2004

After a year's delay, Hercules Cement Co. began excavating a section of Bushkill Creek on Monday as part of its federally approved plan to line the stream bed with a synthetic material the company hopes will stop sinkholes from forming.

The Stockertown company and the state Department of Transportation also propose to line an additional 850 feet that would include the area under a sinkhole-prone Route 33 bridge.

But residents and others are worried about the potential downstream effects on homes and the cold-water habitat if the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Environmental Protection approve the new application, filed Friday.

If the plan is approved, PennDOT may have to siphon funds from other Lehigh Valley road projects, such as the widening of Route 22 or the American Parkway extension in Allentown, to pay for its share, according to Lehigh County Commissioner Percy Dougherty, a Kutztown University geology professor and sinkhole expert.

"I feel sorry for those poor people," he said Monday. "It may look all nice and pretty under the Route 33 bridge, but you are likely to have a bigger problem downstream from the bridge.

"I don't know what studies have been done or if it's necessary," Dougherty said. "But everything I've heard leads me to believe studies have not been done yet, and they are just trying this as a Band-Aid to the problem. I hope that's not true because this is taxpayers' money."

PennDOT replaced a sinkhole-damaged northbound Route 33 bridge in June for $3.5 million, the bulk of which was covered by federal transportation funds. PennDOT then decided to build a new southbound bridge, but the federal government balked at paying for it.

Although DEP is still evaluating the proposal and seeking public input, agency spokesman Kurt Knaus said the PennDOT/Hercules plan is part of a state and federal effort to fix the sinkhole problem. All the parties are trying to find a way to line the rest of the sinkhole-prone creek beyond Route 33 and the homes that straddle the Bushkill.

"The focus of the effort is twofold: to stabilize the Route 33 area and to prevent any sinkhole activity in the future," Knaus said.

Corps of Engineers spokesman Merv Brokke said the Corps and DEP have until Nov. 1 to decide on the plan, but "we don't know if this is going to work."

PennDOT does not have a timetable to begin work if the plan is approved, spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said. He declined to comment on how PennDOT would pay for its portion, or when officials decided to join Hercules.

"At this point we've got to work on the details," Kirkpatrick said.

Joe Pospisil, Hercules' vice president of manufacturing, could not be reached for comment.

After two years of hearings, the Corps and DEP in summer 2003 approved Hercules' request to divert part of the Bushkill to line its bed with permeable plastic at two locations to stop creek water from flowing through sinkholes and into its quarry.

The approval called for Hercules to line about 1,000 feet between Route 191 and Center Street in Stockertown and about 400 feet from a Norfolk Southern railroad bridge southeast toward Route 33.

Hercules wasn't able to start the project until now because of wet weather.

According to the plans, once the creek is dry, sinkholes will be plugged and the ground will be smoothed before the liner is laid and covered with 3 inches of shotcrete -- a form of concrete mixed with sand -- panels of concrete and insulating polystyrene.

Sinkholes could still form under the lining, but in theory, the liner would stop the water from draining into them, Dougherty said. But the creek water that would normally seep into the ground at the liner locations would then flow more heavily downstream, potentially creating more sinkholes.

"Now all they are going to do is dump more water into our area," said Linda Iudicello, a member of the Brookwood Group, a homeowners association that formed after sinkholes began to open in 1999. "We have not heard from DEP, but they are helping the quarry. They are helping PennDOT. What are they going to do to help us?"

Knaus said Hercules began building earthen dams at the railroad bridge. The dams will pool the water in one place before it is piped downstream, about midway between Route 33 and the Norfolk Southern bridge, the site of dangerous sinkholes.

Hercules and PennDOT's plan would continue the lining project from the railroad bridge. Hercules would line an additional 400 feet and PennDOT would go 450 feet to include the stream area within Route 33's right-of-way.

If the plan is approved, 1,400 feet of permeable plastic would line the creek, enough to cover more than four and a half football fields.

Steve Esack