NewtonPA.com

I have lived on Valley View Drive at the 45 degree turn between Summit Lake Rd and Forest Acres Dr for 7 years now. Many times now I have seen the damage caused during major rain events to both the road, the right of way on the road, and personal property (Including my husband's and my property).  Usually the damage is caused by the force of the water that comes down in that area. The force of the water causes the road materials that the township puts down in the right of way to be washed away littering the road, driveways and properties and blocking drain pipes.  As the force of the water continues it then erodes the sides of the road leaving deep gullies and often undercuts the road itself.  This last rain event left a gully on one side of the road immediately next to the end of the pavement that went straight down probably about 10 feet. It moved rocks that were over a foot in diameter. In the years I have been here, I have only seen the township replace the road materials and clean out a cross-pipe.  Why can't the road materials be cemented in?  My husband suggested this idea to the township back in 2003. He even went as far as to research prices of material and give them a design that might be used as a base idea by the township engineer and supervisors.  Nothing was done and I get the feeling it went in one ear and out the other, especially as it was proposed by my husband.  But something needs to be done!  I am sure we are not the only road in the township to have this type of problem.  Any road where the force of the water causes road materials placed on the side of the road to be flooded out continually should be cemented in or if there are other types of materials that can be used to keep the road materials in place.  If done right, it would stop the materials from being washed away, gullies opening up at the sides of the roads and stop the water from undercutting a road.  And in the long run, won't it save the township money if they don't have to repeatably back fill with these road materials?

Hi Susie, I don't know who we have as engineers or who the township retains as engineers.  I would like to add that on Beaver Pond Road, where it makes a 90 degree turn at the bottom of the hill, a new concrete culvert and pipe was installed after the flood of a few years back caused a lot of property damage and washed away the road.  I estimate the pipe diameter to be about 3 feet.

All seemed well until we had the first flood of 2006 this past June.  The concrete culvert held but it could not accommodate the deluge of water coming down the mountain (from Elmer LaCoe's direction).  The water spilled out of the creek with such force that it washed out a large section of the adjacent blacktop road, and what was left (of the road) was covered in debris, rocks and was badly buckled.  It remained impassable for sometime.  Somewhere around late summer, the road was repaired.

The night of the last torrential rain (11/16), we were finally able to get to Beaver Pond from Forest Acres after the storm had relented somewhat and again, we observed the culvert proved inadequate for the job.  While the pavement held up this time, the road was covered with large stones and much debris, and nearby barns and sheds were flooded.

When they built the 2 new culverts up by Elmer Lacoe, they were/are big enough to almost stand in.  Since then there has been no problem with their accommodating huge amounts of water which flows freely.  But you would think if you are accommodating this large amount of water on the upper end, you would have to accommodate the same amount on the lower end with the same size culvert.  Instead, the water is forced/choked into a much smaller culvert.

Like I said, I'm not an engineer but it seems someone at the township level has some explaining to do.

JoeP