Credit: Erich Martin/LevittownNow.com
Falls Township officials have adopted an ordinance that would ensure roads are adequately fixed following construction.
The so-called “curb to curb ordinance” requires that a developer or utility company repair the entire road, from curb to curb, following excavation on a portion of the street, according to township solicitor Lauren Gallagher.
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Doing so ensures that the “pavement is even and less likely to fall into repair,” she said.
Supervisors Chairman Bob Harvie said roads that are patched in part tend to be “lumpy.” Under the new ordinance, that will no longer be the case.
“This makes [the developer or utility company] have to do it,” Harvie said. “They have to patch the entire road.”
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The ordinance sets standards for how contractors and utility service providers must repair roads once work is complete. Many other municipalities have similar ordinances in force.
The ordinance outlines various requirements, as well as penalties for delays. The amendments mandate that permanent paving is constructed within 30 days after the installation of temporary paving. If defects appear within a year of the permanent installation as a result of the defective restoration, Falls Township would require the applicant to pay for all necessary repairs.
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On roads that are less than five years old, the township will require that the applicant overly the traffic lanes in which the opening was made for the entire length of roadway in instances where a longitudinal opening longer than 100 linear feet has been made in the pavement. In addition, when four or more openings have been made by the same applicant within 100 linear feet of pavement, the applicant would be required to overlay traffic lanes in which the openings were made for the entire length of the highway.
Regardless of the age of the road, if more than 100 feet of longitudinal or transverse openings, or both, are made in the pavement, Falls Township reserves the right to require the applicant to overlay traffic lanes for the entire road “if the township engineer determines that the rideability or structural integrity of the pavement has been impaired by the openings,” according to the proposed ordinance.
