PennDOT is planning on constructing a Route 147 Interchange at the northern end of the Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation (CSVT) Project (known to most in our area as the "By-Pass") in Northumberland, Point Township, PA. Most of us have been lulled into thinking that "the by-pass will never happen in our lifetime" after hearing about it for the last couple of decades but it's finally going to happen. You can visit the project’s website at www.csvt.com for full and current details and maps of the CSVT Project. The proposed 147 interchange will provide on and off ramps for ALL by-pass traffic directly onto Ridge Road! The Point Township boards of supervisors say they welcome this Route 147 Interchange and have no intention of fighting it! This proposed Route 147 Interchange will make our beloved and rural Ridge Road a VERY heavily traveled CSVT connector for nearly ALL Route 11 traffic, north and southbound, that wishes to bypass the Borough of Northumberland and the “Strip” in Snyder County. The traffic on Ridge Road will likely increase 10 times from what it is currently! This will lead to increased traffic accidents on Ridge Road and make it difficult and dangerous for the residents along Ridge Road to pull out from driveways. Farmers that now use Ridge Road to maneuver agricultural equipment from farm to field and field to field will find it extremely difficult...if not impossible... and dangerous to do so when the added volume of traffic from this proposed interchange begins using Ridge Road as a Route 11 shortcut. Ridge Road will more than likely need to be "improved" by PennDOT to handle such an influx of traffic. Among these "improvements" will be the widening of Ridge Road in most areas. This means many homeowners who live along Ridge Road will lose property frontage, trees and shrubs to allow the roadway to encroach even closer to their homes! The volume of increased traffic the proposed Route 147 Interchange on Ridge Road will bring also means that the residents along Ridge Road (and beyond) will be subjected to traffic noise 24 hours a day, 7 days a week....forever! Property values along Ridge Road will decrease with the negative impact all these factors from the increased traffic from the 147 Interchange will bring! Another negative impact of the increased volume of traffic will unfortunately be the increased potential of crime along Ridge Road. Please help convince our Point Township board of supervisors and PennDOT that we do not want this Route 147 Interchange providing direct access onto and off of Ridge Road. We, as taxpayers have the right for our opinions to be listened to and considered in making such decisions. Your signature on this petition can make a world of difference in helping to preserve Ridge Road in Northumberland, Point Township as we know it today. Disregard it, and be prepared to live with the negative impact of the extraordinary volume of traffic that this Route 147 Interchange will bring to Ridge Road for life.