Chestnuthill Twp. awards roadwork bids

Chestnuthill Township supervisors reviewed roadwork bids from four businesses during their monthly meeting Tuesday evening.

Hanson Aggregates Pennsylvania LLC, the H&K Group Inc., New Enterprise and Northeast Site Contractor submitted bids.

The bid was to pave and line paint certain parts of Sherwood Forrest Road, Hill Road, Brookmont Drive, Frable Road, Astolot Road, Buffalo Lane, Towering Court, Village Road, Birch Hollow Road, Longwoods Drive, Larmaie Road, Catskill Drive, Hillcrest Drive and Recycling Center Road.

Supervisors went through each bid and cited the cost per ton of materials and line painting per mile.

Hanson had the lowest price overall, at $78.75 per ton of materials and 24 cents per foot of line painting. Their total project cost is $661,197.31.

The motion passed to hire Hanson.

The list of roads is now subject to revision, in order to stay within budget.

“We can’t even come close to repave and re-line all these roads with our liquid fuels fund,” said Chairman Carl B. Gould.

There is $533,499 in the liquid fuels budget to pay for paving and tar and chipping, which would begin in early summer.

Township resident Jack McNulty encouraged the supervisors to keep Catskill Drive on the list to do this summer.

“I’ve been saying to myself, ‘What does it take to get a road paved?’ I don’t live there, just traverse it. It is essentially a dirt road,” he said.

The supervisors said the road crew drive every road in the township when considering what roads to pave.

Vice Chairman Christopher Eckert said the township has one of the largest road systems compared to other Pennsylvania townships. Chestnuthill has 156 miles of road.

“I do feel your pain. It’s a quality of life,” Supervisor Harry Miller told McNulty during the discussion about Catskill Drive.

Gould suggested a possible workshop to show residents the dollar value of each road and the grading scale used to determine if a road needs repaving.

Miller said there are multiple variables that affect the ranking, such as if the road condition hinders emergency service vehicles from getting to a call.

Gould said the township would need “tens of millions of dollars to do all the roads” and other infrastructure such as bridges in need of repair.

In other business

• The May 21 meeting is canceled due to Election Day.

• There will be a Veterans Concert with Chris Eckert at 6 p.m. on May 26 at Chestnuthill Park.

• The 5K9 Trail Run/Walk to benefit the new leash-free dog park will be held at 10 a.m. May 18 at the Regional Park. Cost is $20. Registration is at 9 a.m. or can be done online at http://weposc.org/events_calendar.html.

• They approved the hiring of a full-time road crew member. Miller complimented the entire road crew on their snow removal this winter.

• A motion passed for township solicitor Tim McManus to advertise a public hearing at 7 p.m. on July 16 to enact amendments to ordinances for stormwater, zoning and Subdivision and Land Division Ordinance.