Repairs to Beaver Pond Road

[JoeP]

As many of you know, Beaver Pond Road washed out last spring after the horrific amount of rain that occurred one night causing the pond dam to collapse.  All this has since been repaired, the quickest part was done by the beavers themselves.

The resulting onrush of water washed out the culvert and road by Elmer's Schwartz's house leaving a chasm about 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep.  It took some time (weeks) before repair crews showed up and when they did, they were not from Newton!  I talked with the Forman and he said that Lackawanna County Commissioners had authorized the repairs and the people on the crew were County employees.  I asked where were the Newton township people were and - well he didn't respond.  Anyway, those repairs were completed last summer.

I also learned that the Township was informed when they were installing the culverts by Elmer's house, prior to paving Beaver Pond road, that they were inadequate to handle flash floods.  After all, the folks living here should know - they have been there forever.  The engineers disagreed.  Lucky, no one got killed that night.

Further on down the road, the deluge caused considerable damage to cars, property, the road, culvert and left rocks and debris strewn in the fields.  

That was last year.  Residents complained at the meetings and some temporary repairs were made to make the road passable but it was only this spring when permanent repairs were undertaken.

Several residents have expressed frustration over this entire episode.  Why did repairs take so long?  Who is paying for them?  Did the Township apply/acquire FEMA funds in a timely manner?

I would like to hear the Township's side of the story.

[JoeP]

As reported previously, the repairs to Beaver Pond Road, where the road was washed out completely, were completed last summer - by the County.  Specifically, I am addressing the new culvert and roadway by Elmer's house.

Now, a year later, the new road directly over the new culvert has settled several inches, to the point where cars have bottomed out and gouged out pieces of the blacktop.  Once the pavement cracks and rain water gets in the erosion will accelerate.

I called the township on Friday (7/9) and reported the above.  Based on the very brief conversation I had with the township secretary, there was no indication this had been reported or already addressed.  No matter, she said she would inform the "county".  I guess because the county fixed it in the first place, it is now there problem.  Didn't even get a thank you for calling it in.

I hope this doesn't become one of those situations where the road falls apart because so much time elapses while everyone figures out whose responsibility it is to fix.

JoeP

[JoeP]

Some folks on Beaver Pond Road suggested we post a picture of the sagging pavement over the culvert.  This way there is no doubt it anyone's mind that
a. it exists and
b. it has been reported to the Newton Township authorities.

If someone is hurt because of it the Township Supervisors can't deny they didn't know there was a problem.

Is there a way of posting a picture on this site?  Seems this would be a good tool to enhance our communications because often a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Sal]

From the FAQ section

Can I post Images?
Images can indeed be shown in your posts. However, there is no facility at present for uploading images directly to this board. Therefore you must link to an image stored on a publicly accessible web server, e.g. http://www.some-unknown-place.net/my-picture.gif. You cannot link to pictures stored on your own PC (unless it is a publicly accessible server) nor to images stored behind authentication mechanisms such as Hotmail or Yahoo mailboxes, password-protected sites, etc. To display the image use either the BBCode [img] tag or appropriate HTML (if allowed).

Note:
I will be making changes to the program so that people will be able to upload pictures from their PC and there will be a photo album section but it may be a while before I get to it.