Turnpike Efforts Reduce Stormwater Runoff
For the PA Turnpike, Earth Day is more than just one day. It’s something celebrated throughout the year.
“Earth Day, to me, means clean stormwater coming off of our roadways and released into the streams we all enjoy and love,” said Nick Noss, a Turnpike Engineer Project Manager who helps lead the MS4 program. “Fishable, swimmable, drinkable water.”
MS4 is the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, a regulatory requirement handed down by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection as a way to reduce the amount of pollutants that drain into our waterways. One MS4 requirement is to reduce more than 450,000 pounds of sediment from entering waterways by November of 2026.
Earth Day is the perfect time to reflect on these efforts to control stormwater runoff, he said. There are hundreds of examples across the system, but one is right in our backyard at the Central Administration Building.
Noss explained when the CAB was renovated in 2001, stormwater management was taken into account. The parking lot was designed to allow stormwater to flow into vegetated swales – the grassy areas in the parking lot – where it is directed through in-flow pipes into a large basin downhill between the CAB and the Harrisburg East Interchange.
The water captured in the basin is then directed to an outlet structure, where it’s drained slowly, reducing the risk of downstream flooding.
Noss said the Turnpike not only designs and constructs these systems but maintains them in perpetuity.
“The Turnpike is iconic. We traverse the entire state, and folks look at us for innovations,” Noss said. “It’s important for us to lead by example in what we do.”
For more information, visit the Turnpike’s MS4 page.
By Steve Marroni, PA Turnpike Communications Specialist