Anita Lipinski has lived in her Four Seasons Lane home in Penn Township all 55 years of her life.
Growing up, Lipinski remembers there was only one other home on the street — now a quiet sanctuary for a handful of homeowners. Woods that separate her narrow, gravel road from the whir of traffic on the nearby four-lane Pennsylvania Turnpike were once fertile wheat and corn farmland.
On clear nights, Lipinski and her husband, Mike, stand on their front porch surveying the stars. On July 4, the home is illuminated with pops of color from fireworks shows in Penn Township, Latrobe, North Huntingdon and Jeannette.
Now, as the turnpike commission prepares to install an interchange less than half a mile from her residence, Lipinski is grappling with the loss of her peaceful neighborhood.
Design shifts roads
The turnpike announced in October 2021 it would install an interchange in the township. The location of the interchange — slated for the Route 130 intersection with Sandy Hill, Nike Site and Pleasant Valley roads — was announced in August 2023. Preliminary designs for the $60-million-to-$90-million project were unveiled during a meeting at Penn-Trafford High School in November.
The design includes making room for interchange ramps by shifting portions of some of those smaller roads.
Nike Site Road runs parallel to Lipinski’s street. But under the preliminary design, Nike Site will be moved — cutting through the woods across from her home before joining up with Four Seasons Lane.
The turnpike also will move its Sandy Hill Road maintenance facility to the woods between Nike Site Road and Four Seasons Lane — right in Lipinski’s line of sight from her front porch.
Though the turnpike will not acquire Lipinski’s property for the project, her once-quiet street will be subjected to high-speed car and truck traffic.
“I can stand on the front porch and still see the stars. It’s like we don’t have the light pollution. We get some noise from the turnpike,” she said, “but having a road right out here … all that exhaust — everything’s going to come right into our home.”
The preliminary design adds three stoplights to a half-mile stretch on Route 130.
One will fall right in front of Linda Nabuda’s home at the corner of Route 130 and Four Seasons Lane.
After decades of living in neighboring Trafford, Nabuda, 73, moved to the township in 2020 — just a year before the turnpike announced the interchange project.
“He feels responsible,” Nabuda said of her husband, Cliff, a Trafford native. “He said, ‘I wouldn’t have moved us here if we would’ve known.’ ”
The Nabudas thought the residence would be their retirement home. The privacy on Four Seasons Lane is a sanctuary from the bustling Route 130 traffic — especially for their 2-year-old black and white Lab mix, Augie.
“We go down and we just walk through the woods, and he really likes it — and I do too,” Nabuda said. “It’s kind of a getaway from the Route 130 part of our (home).”
But with the preliminary interchange design calling for a Nike Site Road turning lane to cut through a chunk of their front yard, the Nabudas feel they have no choice but to relocate.
Properties in the path
Their property is one of 20 that may be partially or entirely absorbed by the interchange. No businesses will be relocated, but about five to seven residences would be acquired by the turnpike under the preliminary plan, Right of Way Administrator John Romano told TribLive in November.
All homeowners who may be relocated have been notified by the turnpike commission, said spokesperson Crispin Havener. Apart from addressing direct inquiries, the turnpike has not yet notified the residents whose properties may be partially impacted.
While submitting a form with their feedback on the interchange, the Nabudas asked the turnpike commission to consider buying their home.
“We just want to get moved somewhere. We don’t want to have to wait,” Nabuda said. “We can’t put our house up for sale. Who’s going to buy it?
“But, you know, that’s the thing we’re concerned about,” she said. “We’re 73. In five years, we’re getting closer to 80, and it would be harder on us to move in five or 10 years.”
The Nike Site Road detour would shorten the Nabudas’ already small front yard. A stoplight would fall steps away from their driveway.
“It’s a nice community,” Nabuda said, “and it’s going to turn into nothing more than a traffic jam.”
Interchange pros, cons
Increased traffic along Route 130 also is a concern for township Commissioner Chuck Miller, who opposes the interchange.
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“I don’t think that our infrastructure is able to handle the additional traffic loads,” said Miller, who has spent all but seven years of his life in the township.
“I’ve asked (turnpike officials) during meetings if they’ve tried to go from Hungry Hank’s to S&T Bank at 3 p.m. after school,” he said. “I just couldn’t imagine adding (three) red lights and however many cars more to the road. I can’t see that ending in a good way no matter what.”
Whispers of an interchange have been exchanged among Penn Township residents for about two decades, Miller said.
“I can remember when I was a kid, it was tossed around — the idea of putting slip ramps in,” he said.
But as the rumor inches closer to reality, Miller doesn’t see the pros of adding turnpike access to his hometown.
“I personally do not see the benefit to the township itself — only to the turnpike — and that is to alleviate congestion at other interchanges,” he said. “I don’t see any type of large-scale development or any type of attraction that an interchange coming onto Route 130 would benefit us.”
Miller encourages residents to express their concerns about the interchange to the turnpike commission.
“I’ve heard everyone say, ‘Well, I’ll either be dead or moved by the time this is done,’ ” Miller said. “And I think if we get out of that mentality and just voice your concerns, maybe it will change their minds. I think it’s our only chance.”
Commissioner Lisa Zaucha said the interchange could expand the township’s economy.
“The interchange will bring targeted economic growth to the township, offering residents convenience while taking pressure off of home property taxes, which is currently the township’s main source of income,” Zaucha said in a statement.
The township is weighing a series of zoning changes intended to diversify its tax base, as about 84% of the township’s real estate tax revenue comes from residential taxpayers.
The changes would allow for mixed-used development along Harrison City-Export Road — including housing and commercial entities — and retail properties by the future turnpike interchange. They also would expand the industrial-zoned territory at Bushy Run Corporate Park.
About 20 residents spoke during the public comment period of a meeting on the proposed zoning changes this month. They voiced concerns about impacts on agricultural land; noise, light and air pollution generated by a potential increase in industrial developments; loss of property value; and development of additional fracking wells and gas compressor stations.
Commissioners Chuck Konkus and Jen Ramien did not respond to requests for comment on the interchange. Chairman Jeff Shula declined an interview.
Traffic impact
Four years before Miller joined the board of commissioners, the township officials voted on the interchange, giving the turnpike their blessing to build the toll road access in 2018.
But, legally speaking, the township’s vote couldn’t have prevented the turnpike from pursuing the project, Miller said.
“To me, it doesn’t seem right that they can go and put the impact on roads that aren’t theirs. Obviously, (Route) 130 is not ours. It’s not a township road. It’s a state road,” Miller said. “But the state’s voiced their concerns, too, about traffic.”
The turnpike commission did a traffic study this year on 31 intersections in the township to assess traffic patterns and project how an interchange might impact them, Havener said.
Results of the study have not been released. The report may not be finalized for several years, he said.
“We are aware that there are some traffic issues already at some intersections,” Havener said. “The Pa. Turnpike is working on some of those concerns in the immediate area of the interchange build as part of the design phase.”
A 2017 study by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission indicated a turnpike ramp would add 8,000 cars daily to Route 130. The road would need to be widened to accommodate the additional traffic, the study said.
PennDOT is reviewing the turnpike’s traffic study to determine whether improvements will need to be made to Route 130 or any other state roads in the area of the interchange, spokesperson Laina Aquiline said.
The road ahead
Moving to a new home is not an option for Lipinski.
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“We don’t want to start over,” she said, noting she and her husband have paid off their mortgage after living in the residence for 31 years.
The turnpike touted a paved road, detouring Nike Site Road onto Four Seasons Lane, as a benefit to the interchange.
Lipinski said that does not outweigh the loss of her home’s quiet anonymity.
“Nobody knew where Four Seasons Lane was until a month ago,” she said. “And we liked it that way.”