Creeks under Scranton & Pottsville, Untouched for over a Century

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Creeks under Scranton & Pottsville, Untouched for over a Century

Scranton begins project similar to problem posed by creek under Pottsville

While Pottsville officials debate their responsibility for an enclosed creek beneath the streets of their city, 70 miles to the north, in the city of Scranton, an $8 million project is under way to alleviate a similar problem.


The Meadowbrook Flood Control Project will replace 3,500 linear feet of undersized and deteriorated tunnel through which the creek now flows with a precast concrete box culvert and reinforced concrete pipe.

“This is actually a public improvement project funded through the capital budget,” said state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Neil Weaver on Friday.

Funded through Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services, bids for the effort were awarded in April with an anticipated completion in August 2008.

But the project, needed as the older culvert began to give way, causing subsidence and flooding in back yards and residences, was more than a decade in the planning stages, said one city official.

“I know the residents have been after it since the late ’80s, maybe the early ’80s,” said Ralph Pappas, flood control project coordinator for the city.

First the city needed to acquire all the property necessary to gain access to the project area, a mammoth undertaking requiring almost 15 years and costing an estimated $800,000 in land costs and other fees.

“We didn’t have to take any homes. We had to take some garages,” Pappas said.

But the city was fortunate that no large buildings were located over the culvert, a problem that could face Pottsville officials should it ever become necessary to repair the tunnel enclosing the Norwegian Creek beneath the city.

“It would probably require going in and doing a lot of excavating,” said City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar.

Pottsville officials have so far declined to inspect the tunnel ranging in size from between 3 and 5 feet high and 2 to 6 feet wide through which the creek flows after subsidences last year in a privately owned parking lot and under a housing development.

In December 2006, Tamaqua borough council moved forward with an effort to clean an estimated 2,400 yards of sediment from a flood-prone creek running beneath borough streets.

Costs connected with cleanup of Wabash Creek, winding through a tunnel a half-mile long beneath the community, included an estimated $375,000 for the initial removal of the sediment, $252,000 for structural repairs to 70 linear feet of the tunnel following the removal and $75,000 to repair additional street damage resulting from flooding.

Palamar said Pottsville city officials have not yet researched possible funding options available for repair of the tunnel enclosing the Norwegian Creek should it become necessary.

Weaver said the Scranton project will include design review, inspection and technical advice from DEP throughout construction of the new culvert.

The new construction will include periodic open areas allowing access to the creek and culvert and will be inspected annually by DEP.

http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18750389&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6

 

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Re: Creeks under Scranton & Pottsville, Untouched for over a Century

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City, business still debate hole

A 15-by-30-foot subsidence in the parking lot of a Pottsville insurance company was caused by an April 2006 collapse of part of a stone and concrete tunnel beneath the city enclosing the Norwegian Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River.

The collapse has raised questions both about who should be responsible for an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 in repairs and whether it is an isolated incident or a sign that the tunnel, estimated at a century and a half old in some places, is giving out.

“Our position is that it is not our responsibility what happens on private property,” said City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar on Friday.

But Mark C. Carmon, community relations director for the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Northeastern Regional Office, Wilkes-Barre, said the tributary is a designated waterway of the state even if it runs beneath private property.

“The responsibility would seem to lie with the city,” Carmon said.

Though both the city of Scranton and borough of Tamaqua have recently taken responsibility for costly projects involving creeks running under their municipalities, Pottsville officials still question their responsibility.

Palamar and Mayor John D.W. Reiley said city officials are hoping ongoing negotiations with Ryon Insurance Co., the owner of the property, will result in a sharing of the costs for the repair.

Attorney Paul J. Datte, who represents the insurance company, declined to discuss the issue in depth Friday, but said the property owner is hoping to negotiate a solution that would lead to repairs in the near future.

“Do we have a position on it? Yes, we certainly do. But I’d rather reserve any discussion of that in the hopes that this can be resolved amicably,” Datte said.

Despite the collapse, Palamar said city officials have so far declined to make an inspection of the tunnel running for nearly a mile under the city to make sure it remains structurally sound.

Maps at the Schuylkill County Historical Society show that a stretch of the creek from the intersection of Laurel Boulevard and Progress Avenue to a canal beginning near Mahantongo Street was enclosed between 1830 and 1850.

Later maps and photos show the tracks of the former Reading Railroad that ran above the river bed for much of the following century were removed in 1983 when rail service was discontinued.

Palamar said the city has limited its efforts to remaining vigilant above the ground for any signs of further subsidence.

He said city officials are convinced the Progress Avenue collapse resulted from deterioration of metal trusses holding up a concrete slab at one isolated location and that the rest of the tunnel consisting of stone archways and concrete culverts remains unaffected.

But following the Flood of 2006 in late June of that year, part of one of those stone archways did collapse under a 40-year-old housing development owned and operated by the Pottsville Housing Authority on Peacock Street.

“A tenant called and said, ‘Can you fix this hole in my yard?’” housing authority Executive Director Craig Shields said Thursday.

When representatives of the housing authority investigated they discovered a subsidence severe enough to damage the foundations of six homes, forcing the evacuation of 20 residents and requiring demolition.

On Monday, Shields said a contractor will repair the hole he believes resulted when floodwaters filled the tunnel, dislodging stones in the arch.

The project has cost the housing authority $100,000 and Shields said he was offered no help by city officials. Funding for the project eventually came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We didn’t push it as hard as we probably would have if we had had to pay for it ourselves,” Shields said.

Alhough Palamar said Friday the issue of sharing in the cost of the damages had never been raised with the city, Shields said the authority would likely have sought relief in court had federal funding not been available.

“And that would have been a dog fight,” Shields said.

The portion of the Norwegian Creek running beneath the housing development was likely enclosed much later than other parts of the stream. Another map of the city from 1922 shows that part of the tributary designated as West Norwegian Creek was still unenclosed at that time.

http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18750375&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6