The opening of a new park-and-ride will also help bring an end to a water contamination issue that goes back for decades.
At some point next week, a park-and-ride on Route 307 in Daleville will officially open but dozens of drivers are already using the site.
Water contamination issues started in this area began nearly 50 years ago.
"We’ve been waiting and seeing and actually waiting to see what it was going to be because we didn’t know what it was going to be when it first started," Cheryl Saylock of Gouldsboro said.
In 2014, PennDOT first announced plans to offer buyouts to property owners in this area that had their water wells contaminated with a high concentration of salt from the neighboring Daleville stockpile.
One by one, PennDOT was able to acquire a handful of homes and even one business but instead of just keeping the land empty, the agency decided to open up the area to the public by creating this new park-and-ride to promote carpooling.
It’s at a good intersection there," May said.
"They’re fine.
Drivers say the new park-and-ride will be a good meeting place for people that live in Lackawanna County but work at places like the Tobyhanna Army Depot or the new resorts that have opened in the Poconos.
The official opening of the new park-and-ride will take place once PennDOT’s maintenance department determines exactly how and when the lot will be plowed during snowstorms.

Tahoe Resources (TSX, NYSE:THO) is denying a media report issued on Thursday that its Shahuindo mine in Peru has contaminated local water supplies.
The story (in Spanish) by Cajabamba Peru, stated that heavy rains caused a leaching pit to overflow and flooded a nearby village.
"The heavy rains that have occurred that in the early hours of today, one of the waste pits of this company overflowed and flooded the village of Liclipampa Bajo, in the province of Cajabamba, leaving crops and houses flooded with highly toxic materials," states the article, translated from Spanish.
"The population is worried because in this pond there would be highly dangerous waste, which would put at risk the lives of the affected inhabitants."
However according a release by Tahoe issued the next day, a ditch designed to keep rainwater out of the mining area overflowed, but it was upstream of the permitted discharge point.
"At no time has the rainwater had any contact with process water or any contamination from industrial activities," the Vancouver-based gold producer stated.
It added that the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Control (OEFA) visited the mine to take water and sediment samples, and found that the leach pond did not overflow.
The Shahuindo mine is an open-pit heap leach gold mine that started commercial production in 2016.
It expects to ramp up to full production of 36,000 tonnes per day in the second half of this year.
The mine has proven and probable reserves of 110.3 million tonnes, containing 1.9 million gold ounces, with an average grade of 0.52 grams per tonne.

London: Scientists have developed a simple, paper-based device that can be used to test if a water sample is contaminated, providing a low-cost way for developing countries to limit the spread of water-borne diseases.
Inspired by the simplicity of litmus paper – commonly used for the rapid assessment of acidity in water – the device consists of a microbial fuel cell (MFC), obtained by screen printing biodegradable carbon electrodes onto a single piece of paper.
An MFC is a device that uses the natural biological processes of ‘electric’ bacteria – attached to the carbon electrodes – to generate an electric signal.
When these bacteria are exposed to polluted water, a change in the electric signal occurs, which can be used as a warning message that the water is unsafe to drink.
Researchers from the University of Bath in the UK are now investigating how to link up the sensor with an electronic device such as a mobile phone, via a wireless transmitter, for a quick and user-friendly way of identifying if a water supply is safe to use.
The device has the potential not only to make water assessment rapid and cheap – each device is expected to cost no more than USD 1 – but it is also environmentally friendly since the paper sensor is made of biodegradable components.
The device is also easy-to-use and transport, weighing less than one gramme.
"This work could lead to a revolutionary way of testing water at the point of use, which is not only green, easy to operate and rapid, but also affordable to all," said Mirella Di Lorenzo, senior lecturer at the University of Bath.
"This type of research will have a significant positive impact, especially benefiting those areas where access to even basic analytic tools is prohibitive," said Di Lorenzo, lead author of the study published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
"This device is a small step in helping the world realise the United Nations call to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right," he said.

Scientists have developed a simple, paper-based device that can be used to test if a water sample is contaminated, providing a low-cost way for developing countries to limit the spread of water-borne diseases.
Inspired by the simplicity of litmus paper – commonly used for the rapid assessment of acidity in water – the device consists of a microbial fuel cell (MFC), obtained by screen printing biodegradable carbon electrodes onto a single piece of paper.
An MFC is a device that uses the natural biological processes of ‘electric’ bacteria – attached to the carbon electrodes – to generate an electric signal.
When these bacteria are exposed to polluted water, a change in the electric signal occurs, which can be used as a warning message that the water is unsafe to drink.
Researchers from the University of Bath in the UK are now investigating how to link up the sensor with an electronic device such as a mobile phone, via a wireless transmitter, for a quick and user-friendly way of identifying if a water supply is safe to use.
The device has the potential not only to make water assessment rapid and cheap – each device is expected to cost no more than USD 1 – but it is also environmentally friendly since the paper sensor is made of biodegradable components.
The device is also easy-to-use and transport, weighing less than one gramme.
"This work could lead to a revolutionary way of testing water at the point of use, which is not only green, easy to operate and rapid, but also affordable to all," said Mirella Di Lorenzo, senior lecturer at the University of Bath.
"This type of research will have a significant positive impact, especially benefiting those areas where access to even basic analytic tools is prohibitive," said Di Lorenzo, lead author of the study published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
"This device is a small step in helping the world realise the United Nations call to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right," he said.

KEARNEY — The city of Kearney Utilities Department’s Water Distribution Division, announces that it will begin sending out Cross Connection Surveys to residential homes in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city during January.
Cross connection surveys are required by the Nebraska Department of Health.
The department requires that each residence conduct a plumbing survey, and that the public water supply system initiate and collect the surveys.
The purpose of the survey is to determine if cross connections exist in plumbing systems.
Cross connections are plumbing arrangements that provide a means whereby impure water, gas or liquid may gain entrance to the plumbing system to contaminate or pollute a safe water supply system in the event of a system backflow.
The city must conduct a survey of all residences and commercial sites in the city every five years.
Northwest and northeast Kearney will be surveyed this year, southeast and southwest Kearney will be surveyed in 2019.
Residents who do not receive a cross connection survey, but have a concern about a possible cross connection can contact Mike Sawin, water quality/utility coordinator at 233-3258.

Lahja Nashuuta and Jeremiah Ndjoze Windhoek-Residents of Goreangab informal settlement on the outskirts of Windhoek have resorted to using untreated seepage water from the heavily contaminated nearby dam, which flows into surrounding riverbeds, for domestic use, a New Era investigation can reveal.
Issues raised by residents include the scarcity of potable water in the area, the unaffordability of municipal water cards, lack of awareness on the health implications and the sheer ignorance among some of the residents of the sprawling settlement next to the Goreangab Dam.
Rosalia Athingo, a resident in the area for the past six years, told New Era that people use the dam’s downstream water in their households – for bathing, laundry and washing dishes only, but not for drinking purposes.
Athingo maintained that although she has a municipal card that she recharges monthly, it does not guarantee she has enough clean water to cater for all her domestic requirements.
She lamented the fact that her residence is located some five kilometres from the water points and she does not have a vehicle that could carry sufficient containers.
Athingo said some residents have resorted to using ash that they collect from the fire as a water purification agent.
She said the ash is sprinkled in the water and left to settle down, after which the residents assume that the water is clean enough to use.
“Through this formalisation we will then address issues such as the lack of potable water and sanitation,” Kazapua said.
“As a short-term plan we have identified areas in the most affected informal settlements where we will erect toilets and taps for potable water in order to counteract the current spread of the hepatitis E virus,” Kazapua added.
It contains faeces and now that we are trying to mitigate the spread of the hepatitis E outbreak, we are strongly discouraging people from getting anywhere close to this water,” Shiwedha said.

Thousands of people living in Clevedon will have to boil their water until at least Monday after the supply was found to be contaminated.
Read the full story › Bristol Water has completed a door drop and all properties affected have now received a boil notice card.
Bristol Water says, “From 5pm on Thursday we had over 50 employee volunteers door dropping notices to 7000 properties affected.
Bristol Water is now continuing to work with Public Health England and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) in order to remove the boil notice as soon as possible.
Samples are taken and tested from the water source over the weekend.
Only once these are confirmed as negative and Bristol Water complete flushing the network will we be able to lift the boil notice.
Bristol Water is aiming to be in a position to confirm the boil notice removal on Monday morning, before customers start their morning routines.
In the meantime customers are urged to continue to boil water and follow usage guidance over the weekend.
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It’s a move that will let the state issue violation notices and take any necessary legal action in the future.
Seth and Tobyn McNaughton tell FOX 17 that the level of PFAs in their son’s blood is nearly 50 times higher than the average American.
"But they instead just, ‘we don’t have a limit.
I think 70 is too high.” Seventy parts per trillion is a level that State Representative Winnie Brinks also calls "too high."
She released a statement on Thursday that reads, in part: “More must be done to keep these toxins out of drinking water.
That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to place a stronger limit of 5 ppt on dangerous PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
The sooner the Legislature acts to limit the presence of these toxins in our water, the sooner people will be protected."
The state also took a step on Wednesday to hold Wolverine Worldwide accountable for the contamination by filing a lawsuit in federal court.
State Representative Winnie Brinks (D) says she hopes the state government will work to act in the best interests of its constituents.
"I am really hopeful that we will hear some evidence from various departments at the state level that we have learned something from Flint and we’re not seeing this tragic story repeated right here in Grand Rapids," Brinks tells FOX 17.

"Information gets concealed and often times we get told ‘What do you know?
Do you work at the state?
She encourages people to keep pushing for answers, even when government officials tell them to keep quiet.
“The local councils often times disregard it and automatically I’m like, ‘What are you hiding?’” says Brockovich.
Even State Representative Winnie Brinks is calling out the government’s lack of transparency.
"I’ve heard from folks today: local, state, federal, disappointment in the responses in all those levels of government.
So, I think this is a real call from our friends and neighbors here to examine our response and are we doing enough?” Brinks, who sponsored a new bill to create more funding for safe drinking water, says she got a clear message from residents on Saturday.
"Ask questions, get involved, go to city council meetings, push back, push for clean-up, understand what the chemical can do.
If you’re sick, you can better communicate with your doctor about what you can do and defend yourself.” Plainfield Township, one of the communities impacted by contaminated water states on it’s website: "Plainfield Township Water Department is committed to providing superior quality water that meets or exceeds the high safety standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Our skilled water professionals work tirelessly to fulfill the standards and protect public health and safety” However, according to the EPA, from December 2016 to June 2017 Plainfield Township’s water was in violation of federal health-based drinking water standards.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal arrived at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry to appear before the bench hearing the case.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Nisar observed that the water situation in Sindh is troublesome, adding that the chief minister has been summoned so he can resolve the situation.
Sindh Cheif Minister Murad Ali Shah informed the bench hearing the case that the water crisis is not as extreme as shown by the petitioner, adding that "if I get an opportunity I will show my video to the court".
The chief minister said that the provincial government is working to resolve the issue, however, it is facing shortage of funds.
In the last court proceedings of the case, Justice Nisar observed: "This is a matter of people’s lives, it cannot be ignored.
The chief minister will be asked about all the steps he has taken in this regard."
The chief justice also remarked that the judiciary must intervene when the government fails to fulfil its responsibilities.
Former mayor Mustafa Kamal during his appearance before the court said that the metropolis needs 1250 mgd (million gallons a day) but receives only 1.51 per cent of the total water supplied to Sindh.
He said K-3 and K-4 projects were introduced during his tenure, adding that the project even after its completion would not meet the city’s water requirement.
He added that the completion date given by the government is 2018, whereas according to his knowledge, the project will not be completed even in four-year time.