Township presents $2.2M road plan
Evesham Township Manager Bill Cromie presented the 2013 recommended road plan, estimated to cost $2.2 million, at the Feb. 19 meeting.
The project will be funded through a capital bond ordinance.
“This means borrowing over 20 years, the life expectancy of roads at today’s extremely low interest rates,” Cromie said.
One of the township’s primary responsibilities is maintaining the roadways.
The township has 175 miles of municipal roads, many of which are in need of repair, according to the presentation.
Goals of the project staff will be to identify all available road money and recommend a road program that will spend responsibly where the money will have the most impact, Cromie said.
The roads that will be repaired were based on the pavement rating system, a system all municipalities use. The condition of the road, safety considerations and accident history, traffic volume, number of homes, length of the roadway, last date paved and grant availability, rated from very poor to excellent, determine which roads will be considered.
The improvement project will be done over the course of four years through 2017.
Kettle Run Road, Sycamore Avenue, South Elmwood Road, Ramsey Avenue, Kent Avenue and Evans Road are all slated for improvement this year.
In 2014, Kent Avenue from the dead end to Palmetto, Knox Boulevard, Dutch Road, Lakeside Drive and one and a half miles of Kettle Run Road are scheduled to be repaired.
In 2015, South Cropwell Road from Marlton Pike to Cherry Hill, Ridgemount Drive, Richmond Place, Shady Lane and Coventry Circle East are scheduled to be repaired.
The final two years of the repaving include Merion Road from Wyndmere between Merion and Concord, Concord Road, Chestnut Avenue, Pelham Road from Willow Ridge Road and Foxwood Lane.
Marsham Drive, Mayville Lane, Meadowview Circle, Thornwood Drive and Nottingham Road will be the final roads repaired, according to the plan.
“We may make some minor changes to that based on what council would like to do. They’d like to see some more residential roadways included in that package,” Cromie said.
In other news, the sign ordinance wording is still being worked on.
“Work on the resolution will be done with the solicitor to come up with the wording of an ordinance to give staff leeway in how we approve different signs to better promote business in town,” Cromie said. “We don’t want to discourage business in town, we want to promote it.”
The ordinance will be on a future agenda, according to Cromie.
In other news, the township council surprised Mayor Randy Brown with a proclamation for his accomplishments with the Baltimore Ravens.
The proclamation was read by councilman Ken D’Andrea on behalf of the rest of the council.
“He was very humble,” Cromie said.
Eighth-grade student government winners and members from the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life were also given proclamations.
Relay for Life is slated for May 13.
The next township council meeting will be held March 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the municipal building located at 984 Tuckerton Road.
