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In 1997 the State Legislature established the Dirt and Gravel Road Program. This program uses funds from the motor vehicle license and registration fund to provide monies to municipalities to stabliize dirt and gravel roads. The purpose is to reduce the amount of sediment generated from dirt and gravel roads that enters Pennsylvania waters. The funds are provided to the State Conservation Commission and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) which then allocated the funds to Conservation Districts based on the miles of dirt roads in the county. Our District continues to support this innovative program. The Board of Directors appointed a Quality Assurance Board to make decisions regarding the program on a county basis. The Quality Assurance Board is composed of representatives from the Conservation District, NRCS, Gateway Engineers, the County Planning Commission, and the PA Fish and Boat Commission. In 2008 our District did process new project applications. New projects were approved for West Bethlehem Township, Independence Township and Deemston Borough. Morris Township completed their project in 2008. New
Contracts in 2008 Hainer Road - drainage installation: (surface mix delayed due to gas drilling). Total project value: $19,853.30 ($5,200 in-kind, $14,653.30 grant funding). Deemston Borough Piper Road - drainage and road ditch stabilization. Total project value: $20,910 ($9,875 in-kind, $11,035 grant funding). Independence Township Narigan Run Road - drainage improvements and surface mix installation. Total project value: $76,116.86 ($4,552 in-kind, $71,564.86 grant funding). Several projects were scaled back or postponed due to the gas well drilling activities. The QAB does not wish to invest funds into a project only to have the road ruined from heavy truck and equipment traffic from drilling activities. These roads will be revisited after the drilling activities have subsided. We may also work in cooperation with drilling companies in the future to match our funds with their responsibilities to repair damaged roads. Working cooperatively with the exploration companies may allow our program to stabilize additional lengths of dirt and gravel roads that we could not afford to address through our regular funding process. Projects
completed in 2008:
Olas Lane - Morris Township A total of $2,139.60 of in-kind funds and $19,800 of grant funds were used to complete this project. The project stabilized a section of streambank that was threatening the adjacent township road. This eroding portion of streambank is located on a trout stocked section of Ten Mile Creek. Approximately 650 sq. ft. of streambank was stabilized, 750 sq. ft. of road bank was stabilized and 20 feet of additional culvert pipe was added.  |
More Information Dirt and Gravel Roads Info (pdf) Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance of Dirt and Gravel Roads |
| ©2009 Washington County Conservation District |
