Officials discuss putting $6.8 million into repaving, repairing, reconstructing roadways
Monroe Township has acknowledged the roads need work and has a plan in place to repair, repave and, in some cases, reconstruct roads in town.
The township has a six-year capital program that anticipates all projects and funding requirements for the township. The road program is listed in the six-year capital program as a six-year, $6.8 million project that should be completed in 2023.
“Our goal is to continue to invest and plan for the future,” Councilman Cody Miller said. “Before my term on council, we had no roads paving program. Through the work of countless individuals, council and the mayor, we were able to start the process.”
Adams, Rehmann & Heggan Associates, Inc., a civil engineering and land surveying company, visited 531 stretches of road in the township and graded them on a scale of 0–100. Roads that were graded between 0 and 54.99 are considered past the point of repair and should be reconstructed. Roads graded between 55 and 74.99 should be milled a minimum of two inches and overlaid. The other option is to pulverize, stabilize and overlay the road. Roads graded between 75 and 89.99 should be either seal treated or a 1.25-inch overlay should be applied. Finally, roads graded between 90 and 100 should be maintained by the department of public works.
To come up with the score, ARH put in more than 100 hours of investigation on the township’s roadway network. It would check the roads for transverse cracks, longitudinal cracks, alligator cracks, potholes and deficient drainage. ARH would rate each of those five aspects on a scale of 0–3 with 0 being no deficiencies and 3 being serious deficiencies. The sum of those five will be multiplied by four.
The second part of the rating is checking shrinkage cracks, corrugations, ravelling, polished aggregate, rutting, shoving or pushing, excess asphalt and overall riding quality. The same 0 to 3 score as above but the sum of those eight will be multiplied by 1.67. The two products are to be added together — that number will be subtracted by 100 to give the final score.
Per the capital plan, in fiscal year 2017, the township had plans to reconstruct roughly one half of a mile of South Shore Drive, while milling and overlaying parts of Kirkwall Drive and Forest Drive.
In fiscal year 2018, the second phase of reconstructing South Shore Drive is planned to be reconstructed, while stretches of Kent Road, Ireland Terrace and Avery Drive have plans to be milled and overlaid. The second phase of Forest Drive, mill and overlay, should be completed as well.
Fiscal year 2019 contains plans to reconstruct one-third of a mile of Laurel Avenue and the milling and overlay of Whispering Woods Drive. The second phase of Flannigan Avenue is slated to receive a two-inch overlay as well.
In year four, fiscal year 2020, there are plans to reconstruct more than one half of a mile on Magnolia Avenue, wedge mill and overlay parts of Holiday City Boulevard and Whispering Woods Drive, and have a two-inch overlay on Herbert Avenue.
In the final year of the project there are plans to mill and overlay almost one mile of Whitehall Road, a two-inch overlay on Herbert Avenue and wedge mill and overlay of Whispering Woods Drive phase three.
The five-year capital road program is a fluid plan. Listed above is a recommendation, at any point a road could be moved up a year or down a year.
For more information on the road program in Monroe Township, the department of public works can be reached at (856) 629–4444.
