ALDOT, Citizen Complaint to EPA 11/02/10

Please accept the following complaint filed on behalf of Friends of Hurricane Creek and Hurricane CREEKKEEPER against Alabama Dep. of Transportation. (ALDOT)

This situation began years ago when ALDOT replaced the bridge at Hwy 216 in Tuscaloosa County.
ALDOT created a road into private property without permission of the property owner. A gate was destroyed allowing illegal entrance to the property for over 10 years. This has created an area of trash, litter and erosion of ALDOT right of way.

We have spoken with ALDOT about this situation many times only to be met with empty promises and more pollution.

The right of way in question is far beyond the normal right of way width. It should have been remanded to the property owner when abandoned by ALDOT. They have stubbornly refused to allow the owners to make improvements to stop the erosion across their adjacent property.

Deep rills and erosion gullies get worse with every rain event. ALDOT has refused to block off the illegal entrance they created so the entire responsibility for this problem lies with them.

This illegal road drains directly into a segment of Hurricane Creek protected by TMDL as it has for over 10 years of this discharge. I have included photos from as far back as 2007. We have many more.

ADEM and ALDOT have been called but the situation still exists. Now ALDOT has refused the park authority access to the park for a road leading from the abandoned right of way. Since ALDOT wants to hold onto the property, they MUST keep it from eroding and causing a visible violation of the TMDL and the ALDOT general storm water permit.

On 10/27/10 I visited the site or inspection purposes. I took the photos found in PDF ALDOT 10/27/10 current erosion.
It shows the situation as it exists today.



ALDOT past erosion shows the history of problems created by ALDOT building the road into private land without permission. This trespass is the cause of problem. As long as ALDOT owns the property, they are responsible for its upkeep and accountability for failure to comply.



We respectfully request EPA to consider enforcement since ADEM has taken no action to curb the pollution for over 10 years.



John L. Wathen
Hurricane Creekkeeper,
Friends of Hurricane Creek

Members of
WATERKEEPER Alliance
http://www.waterkeeper.org

Who has the authority to say someone else
is not being a good steward of the environment?

Anyone who notices.