Peters Township plans substantial road improvements for 2022
Resurfacing is planned this year for at least 19 roads in Peters Township.
More streets are in line for crack sealing and application of a rejuvenating agent, and three are targeted to undergo major reconstruction, according to information presented at Monday’s township council meeting.
The road improvement program represents the second phase of a three-year plan that began in 2021. Prior to that, the Pittsburgh firm RoadBotics Inc. was contracted to perform an assessment of all the nearly 115 township-owned roadways, consisting of approximately 1,050 individual street segments.
“We try to get at least 15 years out of a road,” said Mark Zemaitis, township director of engineering, about the period between resurfacings. “A lot of it depends on the nature of the underlying soil conditions, on how the road heaves. It’s tough to predict sometimes.”
He said on average, the span turns out to be 17 or 18 years, with 16.9 as “the average age of the road segment that we’re doing this year.”
Specifications for a base resurfacing bid call for portions of 19 streets, and three more are listed as “add alternates,” to be addressed depending on prices received.
“For 2022, the pavement maintenance budget is funded at an elevated $2.03 million to accommodate the widening and paving of Laurel and Maplewood drives,” Zemaitis wrote in a Jan. 12 memo to township manager Paul Lauer.
Also scheduled to undergo reconstruction in a similar manner is Pinewood Drive. All three, which are accessed off Valley Brook Road, previously were designated as minimum-maintenance streets.
“Those roads will be slightly more expensive than our typical resurfacing, because we need to redo drainage systems. We need to add drainage,” Zemaitis told council.
Also, a turnaround circle that can accommodate larger vehicles is planned for the terminus of Laurel Drive, past its intersection with Pinewood.
“The one remaining minimum-maintenance road that we have to tackle, and we plan to do that next year, is Longvue Drive,” Zemaitis said. The street, which runs parallel to Center Church Road, extends about a fifth of a mile southeast beyond Jomat Drive with no outlet.
Other paving projects on 2022 schedule are resurfacing of the front parking lot at the Community Recreation Center and on connector trails in Peterswood Park.
As for how the bidding process could go for the various projects, Zemaitis provided some perspective.
“Pretty much every construction material under the sun went up this year,” he reported, especially those related to piping. “Asphalt did not go up a great deal. It’s up, but not significantly from where it was a year ago. So I’m hoping that trend continues and you don’t get hit.”