Cedar Lane in Wrightstown already wasn’t in great shape.
Then the massive storms blew in the weekend of July 15, significantly deteriorating conditions even more in areas of the lane.
Now, Wrightstown officials are eager to make emergency repairs to the roadway before the cold weather sets in, rendering the work impossible to do until the following spring.
“The emergency repairs would be made to address a loss of a segment of the roadway in one location, and severe degradation of the bank along a couple other sections that threaten the road integrity should we have another major storm event,” said Chester Pogonowski, chairman of the Wrightstown Board of Supervisors.
Wrightstown’s Township Engineer, Cindy VanHise, said it’s important the improvements be made during this construction season.
“These areas need immediate attention,” she said at a board of supervisors meeting on July 25.
Since at least last autumn, Wrightstown has been interested in engaging a contractor to undertake construction work to correct issues like stream bank erosion and road edge deterioration along Cedar Lane.
However, the township needs to secure easements from property owners to do so and that’s been hard to do, with some requesting what officials described as project changes that would require a “major redesign” and that aren’t within the scope of the work. As such, the prospective project has stalled.
“If residents remain reluctant to give permanent easements, we will seek a temporary construction easement to complete emergency repairs,” Pogonowski said.
Like VanHise, Pogonowski emphasized that the emergency work “needs to be completed within this construction season. If stabilization is not completed to repair the damaged section of the road, then more permanent barricades will be needed through the winter in the sections affected, changing the effective driving width to one lane.”
Under an emergency declaration, the township is able to bypass normal public bidding rules and negotiate with potential contractors to get the best prices to complete the needed work.
While that could help take care of the emergency repairs, the rest of the envisioned Cedar Lane improvement project would be considered not “critical and therefore cannot be addressed as an emergency,” said Pogonowski. “This work will need to be postponed to a future year, provided all the permanent easements can be obtained.”
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