On the Road Again

As part of its discussions for the 2014 budget Monday, Upper Pottsgrove Township officials revealed plans for a set of extensive road re-paving projects to try to get ahead of the township's deteriorating road network.

The plan is to take about $40,000 of the $175,000 the township receives each year from the state's liquid fuels fund, and use it to make payments on a borrowing of between $400,000 and $450,000

"This is a major initiative, we've never done anything like this before," said Commissioners Chairman Elwood Taylor.

Upper Pottsgrove Township commissioners, from left, Russ Noll,

Peter Dolan, Elwood Taylor, Renee Spaide, Herb Miller.

He said doing the paving all at once will help the township get out ahead of always being behind the curve.

"We can't just do $45,000 worth of paving a year, we never catch up," Township Manager Jack Layne said after the meeting.

"In the past, developers paid for some of the re-paving or we used money from sewer projects to re-pave, but we have to get to some of these through roads, they can't await any longer," Taylor said.

The tentative list Public Works Director Frank Quinter has put together is as follows:

1. Yarnall Road -- $83,350
2. Snyder Road, Yarnall to House No. 389 -- $10,868
3. Horseshoe Drive -- $59,342
4. Irwin Drive and Hanover Drive -- $95,430
5. Juniper Street, Mervine Street to paving change -- $4,335
6. Heather Place, Primrose and Lotus Drive -- $73,665
7. Mock Road, Needhammer to Route 663 -- $66,938
8. Chestnut Grove Roaed, in front of the PAL Field driveway -- $2,000

Quinter said the price quoted for "base repairs," has come in uncharacteristically high, and the township is hoping that by bidding all the jobs together, the price can be brought down and additional work can be added.

Commissioner Herb Miller questioned when the township is planning to do paving work in the Regal Oaks section of town, noting that the commissioners had heard complaints about the roads in that development.

Layne replied that that there are plans to do major sewer work on those roads as soon as 2015 or 2016, "so if we paved in there we would have to rip it right up."

By contrast, Horseshoe Drive, which has never been re-built, is not scheduled for sewer work until 2021, he said.

Miller said that the township should communicate that fact to the residents and Taylor said a township newsletter on the road projects might be in order.

Layne said because the state's liquid fuels fund comes from the tax on gasoline, the money must be spent on road repair and related items.