Our look at
GAS DRILLING TRUCK TRAFFIC

Other than water issues, one of the greatest impacts Marcellus Gas Drilling has on the general public is truck traffic. If you travel the interstate highways in Southwestern Pennsylvania, it's not uncommon to count a dozen brine tankers during a 60 mile trip. Other times there will be convoys of trucks headed to fracking operations, whether they are frac pump trailers or tractor trailers hauling hundreds of loads of sand.

There have been a couple incidents of oversize loads (mostly too tall) damaging bridges in SW Pennsylvania. One concrete bridge on an interstate highway was damaged badly enough that it had to be demolished. Another bridge faces repairs and/or demolition. The fracking of one Marcellus gas well can require 1,000 truck trips, and most drilling sites have 3 to 10 wells, raising the total of truck trips to between 3,000 and 10,000.

Truck convention during a frac near Washington Pa

Local municipalities require bonds on roads to help ensure repair of busted-up blacktop and culverts. It is less clear how this heavy truck traffic helps pay for the repair of state roads, since most of these vehicles are licensed out-of-state, either in Texas or Oklahoma.

After Interstate 70 being open for over 40 years, Washington, Pennsylvania had to recently rewrite the rules for an exit ramp due to all the gas drilling truck traffic exiting there. Trucks must now go up one more exit and loop back around to remedy the hazardous situation created by truck traffic backing-up onto the interstate highway.

Tri-axle hauling stone to a gas drilling location

Large quantities of limestone are needed for
well pad and access road construction

Large trucks have trouble cutting country corners

This corner has been repeatedly repaired and rerutted

Interstate truck traffic from Marcellus Shale activities

Wide loads are now a common sight in Pennsylvania

Convoy of Marcellus Shale trucks headed to a frac job

Rigs rerouted on I-70

By Linda Metz, Staff writer
Observer-Reporter
Washington, Pa.
August 29, 2009

Truck drivers traveling from Interstate 70 west to Route 18 in Washington will no longer be allowed to use the Jefferson Avenue exit.

Instead, beginning Sept. 4, truckers will be diverted to the Jessop Place exit and back onto I-70 east, where they then will use the eastbound Jefferson Avenue exit to get into Washington and to Routes 18 and 844.

"For quite some time, we've been trying to figure out some creative ideas to make that traffic flow better," said state Department of Transportation traffic engineer Rachel Duda.

Motorists familiar with the exit know that traffic often backs up onto I-70, causing safety hazards on the busy highway.

And Duda said that while attempts to ease the congestion have been made in the past, there really is nothing that can be done other than detouring trucks from using the exit.

According to Duda, the backup is caused by the exit's sharp bend and the two traffic signals at the bottom that are located within close proximity of each other.

After several engineering studies and traffic counts, including one completed within the past six weeks, it was PennDOT's decision to permanently close the westbound exit to truck traffic.

"The eastbound off-ramp can accommodate all the vehicles without impeding Interstate 70," Duda explained.

She added that the traffic restriction is permanent, at least until a final solution to the traffic problem can be determined.

"Unfortunately, there are businesses located on either side of the exit that makes it unable for the road to be widened," Duda stated. "There's not much else we can do."

'Residual Waste' tankers haul flowback,
produced water and regular water

Frac sand tractor trailer on a small country road

Typical disintegration of an asphalt road from heavy truck traffic

Weight limits are often ignored by heavy trucks

Excerpt from the NY State study done
on truck traffic for one gas well site

New York State DEC

Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory Program

http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/58440.html

NTC Consultants (NTC) estimated required truck trips per well for the noted phases requiring transportation as follows:

Drilling Rig Mobilization, Site Preparation and Demobilization

Drill Pad and Road Construction Equipment 10 – 45 Truckloads
Drilling Rig 30 Truckloads
Drilling Fluid and Materials 25 – 50 Truckloads
Drilling Equipment (casing, drill pipe, etc.) 25 – 50 Truckloads
Completion Rig Mobilization and Demobilization
Completion Rig 15 Truckloads

Well Completion

Completion Fluid and Materials 10 - 20 Truckloads
Completion Equipment (pipe, wellhead) 5 Truckloads
Hydraulic Fracture Equipment (pump trucks, tanks) 150 - 200 Truckloads
Hydraulic Fracture Water 400 - 600 Tanker Trucks
Hydraulic Fracture Sand 20 - 25 Trucks
Flow Back Water Removal 200 - 300 Truckloads
Well Production
Production Equipment 5 – 10 Truckloads

Frac tank being hauled on the interstate

Low dumpsters are used to haul drilling waste

Fracking convoy clogging city streets

OVERSIZE AND OVERWEIGHT
IN AMWELL TOWNSHIP

   Oversize Load exiting a small country road with damaged
10-Ton weight limit bridge in photos below

Sign clearly indicating the weight limit on Main Street,
the road the truck is seen entering above.

Bridge damaged from heavy truck traffic for gas projects

Oversize loads (like the truck pictured above) have been regularly
crossing this small bridge that is posted with a
10-ton weight limit

Sign at the opposite end of Johnson Road:
Bridge
Weight Limit 10 Tons
1-1/4 Mile Ahead

Bridge damage from heavy trucks and oversize loads

Bridge damage - Is the guardrail the only thing damaged?
Check out the cracked concrete in the bridge abutment.

   OVERSIZE LOAD

Oversize Load turning onto Westland Road
(Rt 519) in Hickory Pa

Liquified Petroleum Gas tanker slowing traffic
on Rt 50 between Avella and Hickory, Pa

Alligator cracks in a asphalt country
road from heavy truck traffic

Two big rigs wait to enter snow covered drilling location

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Our look at GAS DRILLING TRUCK TRAFFIC

Our look at
GAS DRILLING TRUCK TRAFFIC