The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently hosted a public display of its plans for reconstructing a portion of Interstate 78 in Weisenberg Township and Greenwich and Maxatawny townships, Berks County.

PennDOT's proposed reconstruction, which runs between the Len-hartsville Interchange and the Berks-Lehigh County line, caused a mixed variety of reactions for members of the community attending the Jan. 17 meeting at Greenwich-Lenhartsville Elementary School, Krums-ville, Berks County.

"I understand why they're doing it," Krumsville resident Dan Batz said. "It makes sense on paper, but I'm not losing any property so it's easy for me to see their point of view."

Although Batz's home is not directly affected, he has several friends and associates whose property will be appraised and some who must relocate because of changes to the highway.

"We've got a friend from church who's actually going to lose part of his vineyard and a substantial amount of property because of relocation of the road," Batz said.

Others found themselves in similar situations as Batz's friend, such as Gene and Martha Jakiela, who as of now are bracing themselves for the very real possibility of having to leave their home in Lenhartsville, along the route.

"First, we weren't going to lose our house, and then somebody complained about the roundabout so they didn't lose their home," Gene Jakiela said. "Why do they have to take our home?"

Others, such as neighbors Tammy Carroll and Charles Boyer, had specific concerns about the plans.

"They come up with this idea that they're going to put ponds along the route that will run the surface water from the road into this pond," Boyer said. "It's wetland there now."

"I'm all for it. I hope it does help the traffic and help with the situation, but my concern is the drainage fills and getting a sound wall up. Those are the biggest things," Carroll added.

PennDOT provided representatives to help alleviate some of these concerns and address any issues or questions that people brought to their attention. The event was an open house format, where people could find a representative and talk one-on-one about the construction plans, which were detailed on posters around the circumference of the room.

The one-on-one talks were not just beneficial for the community, however, but according to Ronald Young, PennDOT's spokesperson, they also benefit PennDOT.

"Property owners know the area better than we do, so if they come and look at the plans and say, 'Oh, we like this but we don't like that and maybe you can change this,' they'll do the best they can to try to incorporate those things into the final product."

James McGee, Penn DOT assistant district executive for design, added the public forum is an important step in the overall process.

"It's also to give them an opportunity to see what we are working on," McGee said. "We don't want to be perceived as trying to do something in a vacuum.

"We have certain things that we have to address. We have to address safety, we have to address deteriorating conditions, but at the same time, we're trying to make this work with the community."

One of the toughest aspects of the job is informing property owners they may need to relocate due to the changed roads.

For McGee, the face-to-face conversation is a difficult aspect, but a necessary one.

"It's definitely a very tough part to go up to somebody and say, 'Hey, for the good of the general public we're going to have to impact your right of way,'" McGee said. "We're going to work with you and be as fair as possible, but there's just certain times that right-of-way impacts can't be avoided."

The reconstruction of I-78 has been planned since 2000, however, the deteriorating conditions are something PennDOT says must be addressed.

"The biggest factor on this project is really the safety factor," Young said. "It's a high-crash corridor, higher than average percentage of large trucks, and narrow shoulders that don't really provide the appropriate widths, especially on the inside lanes, for incident management."

"When incidents happen, it shuts the whole road down and then all the local roads are getting clogged with people getting on," McGee added.

In order to address these problems, a full reconstruction is needed, which according to Young, means digging up the lanes and redoing them from the ground up.

This includes new bridges, wider shoulders and additional truck climbing lanes. In addition to these changes, all the signs, guardrails, barriers and drainage will be upgraded as well.

The amount of construction needed means the project, once construction is officially started, will take three to four years to complete by Young's estimation.

"[I hope] we can continue to move forward with finalizing the actual design, getting through the right-of-way acquisition process amicably to the best that we can, and getting to construction as soon as possible," McGee said.

PennDOT provided a comment form for residents to complete regarding their thoughts, concerns and questions.

Comments on the plan will be accepted from the public until Feb. 1.