Newtown Completes Roads Tour

The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the authorization to go out for bid in order to conduct roadwork following the Public Works Department's roads tour.

Director of Public Works George Sharretts presented his report at Monday's meeting and it is expected to be posted on the township website as well.

He said the 49 miles of township roads were evaluated, state roads and paper or privately-owned streets, were not included. 

"It's our intention to prepare a long term road program," Sharretts said. "The program will need to be a living plan which can be adapted and evolve."

The program would address the refurbishment of the roads that have been evaluated to be in poor condition first, then address the roads that were deemed fair, good, and then excellent condition.

A consistent review of the report will be necessary and adjustments will be made accordingly, he said.

Sharretts proposed the program be funded through state funds allocated to Newtown under the the Liquid Fuels Fund as well as County Highway Aid Funds, which are provided by the state and the county each year.

"Should our funding remain consistent it will take five years to restore the roadways currently in the poorest condition," he said. "And 30 years to address each and every roadway. Should the funding increase, it will take less time and if it were to decrease, it will take longer. But it is worth taking the time to do the job properly for the long term," he said.

Year one and two of the program may include fixing portions of roadways and patching to bring the conditions of the poorest roads to an acceptable level, however the hope is to move forward and restore roads in their entirety only.

"We prefer to do a few roads properly as oppose to doing several roads in an incomplete fashion," he said.

An initial schedule will be included in the roads report.

Township Engineer Eileen Nelson said the bid could be awarded at the second May meeting and the work could begin toward the end of June and could be completed by the end of the summer for the initial phase of the program.

The board also approved traffic signal modifications at Troop Farm Road and Route 252 at Monday's meeting. Read that story here.