Bowmanstown struggles with road work costs

Street conditions were on the minds of Bowmanstown residents at the Bowmanstown Council meeting Tuesday night.

Resident Sharon Krebs told the council members that she and other residents have been attending the meetings for more than a year, and they are wondering when the roads, such as Craig Street, will be fixed.

She said the problem is greater than just potholes, it’s also the divots and bumps.

“The whole road is deplorable,” she said about Craig Street.

Council member Rob Moyer said the borough is working with what it has in funds for road improvements, but the costs are higher than what it can afford.

“Its $60 to $70 per square yard to do any work,” he said.

Earlier in the meeting, Moyer told the council that five companies had been approached about doing some seal coat work and fixing potholes. Two of the companies responded back, but no one placed a bid.

“We can’t get anyone to do our seal coat,” he said,

Since everyone is busy with other projects, the council voted to extend the deadline for bids.

Moyer told Krebs and the other residents that the Streets Committee has several streets on its wish list for repairs — Ore Street to White Street, White Street to the Palmerton line, Craig Street, Lime Street and Lincoln Avenue.

The Streets Committee has discussed repairing sections of the road, but piecemeal work is illegal, he said. They also looked at the cost to repair the roads properly with resurfacing and curbs, but that would cost $50,000 a block.

They have looked into getting a $450,000 loan to get some roadwork done, but the monthly repayment is too costly.

“We would have to pay roughly $4,000 a month for 10 years,” he said.

Krebs asked how much is the borough looking at in the total cost and if a tax increase would provide enough funds.

“It would be $7 million to do all of our roads,” Council President Kara Scott said.

Moyer said a reasonable tax increase still wouldn’t be enough to cover the costs.

Scott suggested that these residents attend the next budget workshop meeting to see if they might be able to provide some suggestions. Moyer said he doesn’t have a date set for that meeting, but when he does it will be announced on the borough’s Facebook page.