PennDOT just plunked down $32 million to knock down and rebuild buildings that store road salt. Some of these buildings are not even a year old.
Several contractors wonder why PennDOT is spending so much money to knock down and rebuild the storage sheds while Pennsylvania has so many pressing repairs that are needed on the roads, bridges and highways.
When winter storms cover highways with snow and ice PennDOT crews dump tons of salt to make the roads passable.
PennDOT stores much of the salt in tarp-covered shelters that look like covered wagons, including one in the shadow of the Martin's Creek viaduct in Kingsley.
"It's less than a year old, still under a 100 percent warranty," said Susquehanna County contractor Gary Johnson. He built the shed last fall. The state paid him $44,000.
Eleven months later, PennDOT plans to spend roughly $180,000 to tear down the brand new structure and build a new wooden shed.
"This kind of irresponsible spending is the reason our state, and our country is in the condition it's in," Johnson added.
The Kingsley shed is one of 20 in our area PennDOT plans to tear down; 17 of them were built in the last five years.
PennDOT will knock down 143 of the tarp-covered facilities statewide and rebuild most with more expensive wood-roofed sheds at a cost of more than $32 million in taxpayer money.
Those living near the Selinsgrove shed built in 2007 can't believe PennDOT is about to spend close to $200,000 to take it out of service.
"That's absurd," said Alex Guarko of Selinsgrove. "For holding salt, that should be more than good enough."
"Somebody should have done their homework beforehand and made a better determination of what they needed and whether it was safe or not," said Bruce Bingaman of Selinsgrove.
"These things, given a heavy snow load, given winds, they could come tumbling down," said PennDOT spokesman Steve Chizmar.
He added his agency will replace sheds to keep workers safe because Canadian-based Cover-All Buildings, which made the kits used in some of the structures, sent out an alert that it could not guarantee the roofs can withstand severe storms.
That same company also built the Dallas Cowboys practice facility that collapsed last year, injuring 12 and leaving an assistant coach paralyzed.
"You can't take any risk with an employee's health and well being. That's the bottom line," Chizmar added.
"There's a certain amount of risk in walking out your door in the morning," Johnson said. He added kits for most of the structures, including the one he built, were not made by Cover-All.
Johnson said PennDOT's own study of the storage facilities shows the state should spend just $25,000 reviewing and analyzing the dimensions of the shed.
"They didn't find anything wrong with the tarp building. They didn't find anything wrong with the foundation," Johnson added.
The building is less than a year old, its construction appears solid. It's built to withstand 90-mile-per-hour winds. That's a category three hurricane.
"We've had two of these buildings come down in high winds, and just a couple of weeks ago, we had the rear wall of one of these structures blown out," said Chizmar, adding no one was hurt, "because it was during the summer time."
Even PennDOT critics agree some of the tarp sheds needs replacing. At the eight-year-old facility in Beavertown, cracks appear in the wood siding and rust grows on the truss supports.
If these newer buildings are as risky as PennDOT claims, who should be held accountable for the agency spending millions on the 43 sheds built the last three years; 18 built in the last year alone?
"We're moving ahead to protect our workers. As far as who will be held accountable, that's something that will be sorted out as we move ahead," Chizmar said.
When asked if anyone will be held accountable, Chizmar responded, "That will remain to be seen."
Barring any last minute change, PennDOT said demolition for some of the structures could start later this week.