Some old country roads in Susquehanna County are getting a major overhaul thanks to the natural gas drilling companies.
In the past year, PennDOT has ordered those companies to fix roads damaged by all the truck traffic.
This is different. Cabot Oil and Gas is now completely rebuilding some roads before all the trucks show up.
It's a complete transformation along Wickizer Road, a state road near Dimock.
Trucks and crews are turning a narrow dirt road into one wide enough to handle big trucks coming and going all the time.
Cabot Oil and Gas is doing all the work on that road and other state and township roads in Susquehanna County before there is truck traffic.
"What Cabot is trying to do is go into roads that we know we'll be doing work off of and rebuild them in advance to fix them before problems arise," said Cabot spokesman George Stark.
After the road is widened, the trucks are laying cement powder then mixing it all with rock and water to create a concrete base on roads that were only dirt.
"I think you saw a road today that will be much better for years to come in the long term," said Stark.
PennDOT is forcing all the gas companies to fix roads that have already been damaged by all the truck traffic.
In those cases too the companies say they are trying to make the roads better than they were before.
Mike Skumanick was happy watching the project in front of his house near Nicholson. Chief Oil and Gas was paying the crew to do the work along that stretch of state road. Chief is doing drilling in this area too. It also has many trucks coming and going.
"It was getting bad it was getting bad," said Skumanick. "Down at the bottom of the driveway there was a heck of a hole and they're going to fix that there."
With so many trucks pulling into so many drilling locations, the locals around here know the roads take a beating.
"The traffic is pretty big, of course the gas trucks, the water trucks and all them."
That's why Cabot said it is now doing these road repairs before the drilling even gets started.
"This is an ongoing investment Cabot is going to make" said Stark. "To date we've already put in $3.5 million and we're not done."
Cabot officials said many of the roads in the Northern Tier just weren't designed to handle all the traffic.
That gas company says it's trying to redo the infrastructure so it can handle all the big changes that come with drilling.
In the past year, PennDOT has ordered those companies to fix roads damaged by all the truck traffic.
This is different. Cabot Oil and Gas is now completely rebuilding some roads before all the trucks show up.
It's a complete transformation along Wickizer Road, a state road near Dimock.
Trucks and crews are turning a narrow dirt road into one wide enough to handle big trucks coming and going all the time.
Cabot Oil and Gas is doing all the work on that road and other state and township roads in Susquehanna County before there is truck traffic.
"What Cabot is trying to do is go into roads that we know we'll be doing work off of and rebuild them in advance to fix them before problems arise," said Cabot spokesman George Stark.
After the road is widened, the trucks are laying cement powder then mixing it all with rock and water to create a concrete base on roads that were only dirt.
"I think you saw a road today that will be much better for years to come in the long term," said Stark.
PennDOT is forcing all the gas companies to fix roads that have already been damaged by all the truck traffic.
In those cases too the companies say they are trying to make the roads better than they were before.
Mike Skumanick was happy watching the project in front of his house near Nicholson. Chief Oil and Gas was paying the crew to do the work along that stretch of state road. Chief is doing drilling in this area too. It also has many trucks coming and going.
"It was getting bad it was getting bad," said Skumanick. "Down at the bottom of the driveway there was a heck of a hole and they're going to fix that there."
With so many trucks pulling into so many drilling locations, the locals around here know the roads take a beating.
"The traffic is pretty big, of course the gas trucks, the water trucks and all them."
That's why Cabot said it is now doing these road repairs before the drilling even gets started.
"This is an ongoing investment Cabot is going to make" said Stark. "To date we've already put in $3.5 million and we're not done."
Cabot officials said many of the roads in the Northern Tier just weren't designed to handle all the traffic.
That gas company says it's trying to redo the infrastructure so it can handle all the big changes that come with drilling.
