I99

I-99, Centre's Regions Newest Trail

By Michael Hermann; Lizard Tracks, Centre Daily Times, January 2000

The newest trail coming to Centre County will traverse rolling farmland and hidden valleys. It will skirt wetlands, cross streams and provide new overlooks from which most of Nittany Valley will be visible. This new trail is expected to bring many more tourists to the Centre Region and it’s popularity will make headline news every step of the way. It has gathered support from local, state and federal officials who claim this new trail will be the best thing to ever happen to State College.

The trail is named I-99 and they’re building it now. They call it progress.

Historically road construction has been an evolution of trails. Native Americans followed deer paths as they hunted and gathered across Pennsylvania. The more efficient, direct and easy to follow paths became well used corridors. They grew wider and straighter to accommodate horses and wagons. Communities were built alongside these trails. Centre County grew because it encourages transportation corridors. In 1899 it built railroad tracks, in 1999 it builds interstates. Although the railroad tracks were always dirty, and the railroad engines loud and belching smoke, people chose to live alongside the tracks. They stopped their household chores and ran outside to watch the train go by. Residents waved with honest enthusiasm to passengers. They called it progress.

Then Henry Ford mass marketed the automobile which also redesigned the trails. Former stagecoach routes were upgraded to support the weight and peculiarities of the early automobile. Mud was a real threat to these autos and the corduroy road was born. A corduroy road was built by laying small diameter logs across the trail, affording bumpy yet continuous travel. In the 1950’s a major road was built right through the middle of Centre County. The Lakes-to-Sea Highway connected Atlantic City to Chicago, geographically linking the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Michigan with a ribbon of concrete. Locally this is called Atherton Street or route 322. Route 322 was heralded as a road that would make State College accessible to other major cities. Only forty years later that same road would be criticized as being narrow, dangerous and inefficient. It continues to be enlarged, upgraded and rerouted to appease those concerns.

Today route 322 is the old road and I-99 is the new road. The interstate will bring economic growth to this area similar to what the railroads provided last century. A wider variety of job opportunities will help release the area from Penn State’s overwhelming control. A larger, more diverse community will support a wider variety of shopping and entertainment options. This is positive for the Centre Region, although many negative concessions must be made. The continuous growth will also support the social ills that plague larger cities. With increased population comes increased crime rates and a sense of anonymity. No-one rolls down their window and asks for directions on an interstate.

The topography of Central Pennsylvania does not cater well to interstate design specifications. Like the corduroy road, engineers will overcome these issues by building massive bridges and ramps, the likes of which Centre County has never seen. It is estimated the interchange next to Centre Community Hospital will rise 70 feet above the ground. The Research Park and the hospital will not be visible to each other with this concrete octopus rising between them. Travelers along this exchange will have a birds eye view of what was a sleepy Farmers High School. Speeding by at 75 mph they will see glimpses of Houserville and Lemont, quaint communities appearing like a model railroad layout below. Sharp eyes will peer down onto Rock Road and spot Spring Creek, an outstanding fly fishing stream. Perhaps the fish will appreciate the cooler patches of water afforded by the immense shadow cast by I-99. Perhaps the anglers will not be annoyed by the constant drone of traffic hurtling 70 feet above them. Perhaps they will be consoled knowing they can drive to Pittsburgh thirty minutes faster.

I-99 will displace many local residents. Statistically it doesn’t appear to be a concern, but people will be forced to abandon their homes, salvaging what memories and financial investment they can from what was an ideal location to live. New condominiums will be built next to I-99, the new tenants won’t mind the interstate noise next to them, because they’ll owe their new jobs to the increased employment base that I-99 brings.

In fifty years we’ll be complaining I-99 is too narrow, dangerous and inefficient. And so a new road will be built, even larger and grander than the old I-99. Perhaps it will bypass State College all together, for instead of wanting to get to State College, people may simply want to go past it. The streams may be polluted, the game long gone and the university too large. As we gaze across the sprawling metropolis we’ll ask “Who wants to live there, right next to the exit ramp?”. Newcomers to the area may decide State College is too big, the houses too old and as such decide to live somewhere along Penns Valley. The future will bring fast paced development to rural areas that are not currently connected to State College by a superhighway. But I suspect they will be someday, like it or not.

If our past can be used to predict our future, there will be an interstate zooming through Penns Valley by the turn of the next century. The city folk will move their families to the suburbs of Millhiem in year 2050, where the streams run cool and deer graze in their backyards. It will remind them of what State College used to be like, way back in 1999. And they’ll still call that progress. The interstate will bring opportunity to State College and insures the region will grow to rival the nations other prominent cities. The true cost will be argued in hindsight, when statisticians can shuffle the numbers and sort the columns. Like all popular trails, I-99 will be heavily used. And even those who vehemently oppose it will find themselves driving it regularly. That is the nature of progress.