Category: North Buffalo Township

Supervisors Pursue New Truck for Winter Clean-up

After acquiring a new maintenance vehicle this fall, township supervisors will put their current 2001 Dodge Ram 3500 out for public bid.

by Jonathan Weaver

North Buffalo Township maintenance workers will hopefully add a new member to their team before snow falls this winter.

Township supervisors approved various motions and resolutions to work toward the purchase of a new pick-up truck.

Maintenance workers hope to use a 2011 Ford F550 this winter for plowing and ashing road surfaces.

Following the successful purchase of the new truck in an estimated four months, maintenance workers will seek bids on a current municipal truck workers have used for the last ten years to treat township roads: a 2001 Dodge Ram 3500.

The new truck is being purchased through Walsh Equipment and a state purchasing cooperative called CoStar. Supervisors also approved borrowing money toward the down payment of the new truck.

Supervisor Chair Richard Adams explained the approved acts.

“We’re doing the down payment with the stuff that we sold – that’s why we had to do that resolution,” Supervisor Chair Richard Adams said. “It was junk – stuff we really couldn’t use. That’s why we go out now for bids the way they used to do it because the workers right now just don’t have the time to do it.”

Supervisors were required to pass a resolution to amend the 2011 budget to allow for more than $9,000 in funds acquired through the sale of various equipment, including three steel hopper spreaders, a 20-ton equipment trailer and a 2000 Ford F350 4-door flatbed truck, to go toward the new truck.

Township Secretary Pamela Bowser calculated the final total raised through the equipment sale and spoke on the bidding process.

“We’re moving $9,176 that we received for sale of used equipment down to capital purchases to be able to use that money towards the new truck,” Bowser explained. “We don’t want to be without a truck, so we have to wait until we get the new truck before we put the old truck out-for-bid.”

Township supervisors also approved for Bankson Engineers personnel to pursue the bid process toward constructing a new roof for the township maintenance building at 149 McHaddon Road, a building that also serves as the meeting place for monthly meetings.

“We were overdue for a new roof – it’s leaking,” Adams said. “That’s why we’re getting a new roof.”

Bid estimates were not yet calculated.

Township Supervisor David Wolfe was not at the supervisors meeting Monday. Wolfe also serves as township roadmaster.

Supervisor Vice-Chair Gary Klingensmith reviews blueprint specifications from Bankson Engineers personnel for a new roof on top of the 149 McHanndon Road municipal building, where township supervisor meetings are also held.

Bridge Repair Continues in North Buffalo Township

Warning signs try to prevent motorists from entering the bridge construction area on Worthington-Slatelick Road, which is between Beatty Mill Road and Rhea Road.

by Jonathan Weaver

A county bridge project is still underway after being closed for nearly two weeks.

The Marrowbone Bridge along Worthington-Slatelick Road – also called State Route 3011 - in North Buffalo Township has been shut down and removed for repairs by PennDOT construction crews.

PennDOT Assistant County Manager Keith Duris said that portion of Worthington-Slatelick Road will remain closed for the next two months.

“Probably till about mid-September,” Duris said. “The entire bridge is closed. The old bridge is being removed and we’re going to install a new box culvert.”

The bridge is between the intersections of Beatty Mill Road and Rhea Road and connects Worthington borough and Slatelick.

Duris said the construction has been intended for some time.

“It was planned – they are planned out a couple years ahead of time,” Duris said. “It’s had minor repairs in the past, but it was due for replacements.”

“It was structurally deficient,” Duris added.

Approximately four PennDOT crew members and Foreman Andy Silvis began work on the bridge July 18, though the bridge was closed July 12.

According to the PennDOT online information page, the project was estimated to cost approximately $63,414. It was estimated that approximately 682 vehicles travel the road per day.

Duris explained what the new bridge will offer.

“It will be able to accommodate two lanes of traffic, have updated guiderail and new pavement over top of it,” Duris said.

An employee within Novotny’s Grocery at the base of the street said the business has not been effected, but a person who wished to remain anonymous outside the complex said it has made an impact.

“We definitely need that road,” the resident stated.

The posted detour has motorists traveling approximately 17 miles to Route 422 and Old Route 28.

Construction vehicles sit on the other side of Worthington-Slate Lick Road while PennDOT crews construct a new Marrowbone Bridge.