The public property standing committee provided a detailed report of its planned and in-progress projects at the Harrison Township committee meeting on July 17.
The information was provided by Deputy Township Administrator Dennis Chambers, who discussed projects at length. One major effort is the removal of potholes on Sherwin Road, between Mullica Hill and Jackson roads, a project that has been ongoing for the last week and a half.
“The Sherwin Road, the infamous Sherwin Road pothole situation, over the course of the last week and a half, we’ve made those repairs,” said Chambers. “It was a fair amount of work. We’ve literally raked in 50 tons of asphalt by hand, which is not a fun job when it’s 95 degrees out.”
Chambers noted that the work had turned out “fairly well” with regard to its process. The fix is also not meant to be permanent, since Sherwin Road is scheduled to be repaved in the next three to five years.
“It should last that long,” he added. “Hopefully the residents are happy, safe and passable now.”
Chambers also discussed complaints he received by email about potholes and sinkholes in the WillowBrook Farms neighborhood. While that repair has not yet started, it will once work has been completed on sinkholes in the Cherry Lawn neighborhood.
“We had about seven sinkholes that needed to be (filled),” Chambers explained about Cherry Lawn. “The stormwater facilities totally needed to be rebuilt. It was very time consuming, but we’re just about wrapped up in there, and then we’re going into WillowBrook and filling those (sinkholes).”
The rebuilding, according to Chambers, was a result of either the age of the development, poor construction at the time it was built or a combination of the two. Most of the time the problem is near the surface, but it can become a huge issue if it is deeper in the ground.
“We gotta repair the storm inlets first, since you don’t want to spend $500,000 on asphalt and just asphalting over a bad storm drain that’s just going to be a sinkhole in two months,” Chambers said.
Two people working on repairs would take about three to four days, at a cost of $8,000 per day.
An exact date for the WillowBrook Farms repairs has yet to be determined. The next committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m.
