Ross Paving Program Begins on Pine Hill Drive and Hillcrest Avenue

Ross Township's Paving Program is expected to get under way Wednesday, with the start of paving work on Pine Hill Drive and Hillcrest Avenue followed by milling and paving of Highland Pines Court. 

Milling is expected to begin Monday on Tara snd Bennington Woods drives, said Mike Ness, superintendent for Valencia-based Shields Asphalt Paving Inc.

"The entire project will be complete within two weeks," Ness said. 

The township's paving program covers about 1.2 miles this year at a cost of about $438,000, according to the bid that Ross Township Commissioners accepted June 13.

That compares to a historical average of 5.3 miles of roadway repaved each year over the past 20 years at a cost of about $1 million per year — with the exception of 2010, when the paving program was removed from the township's budget. 

The township maintains about 100 miles of roadway.

Ideally, roads are repaved every 20 years, said Gazdik.

"At this rate, it'll take 81 years before we return to do a road," he said. "If we don't address it, we're creating a large liability for the future." 

A draft of the 2012 budget, which was just finished, includes about $400,000 for the paving program next year, Gazdik said. 

He plans to ask the Board of Commissioners to consider increasing that amount. A budget of about $1 million to $1.2 million is what is needed, he said, adding that the roads are the most expensive item of infrastructure the township maintains.

"The issue with roads is it doesn't matter what the politics are; they're going to fall apart," he said. 

The work that begins Wednesday will include neighborhood streets that are considered the most critically in need of repair, according to an evaluation process that Ross Township staff undertook to consider condition, number of potholes, the rating of the road and amount of traffic, among other factors.

Work will span: 

- on Tara Drive from Woodland Road to Kinvara Drive

- on Highland Pines Court from Trion Road to Carriage Drive

- on Pine Hill Drive from the Mt. Troy Extension to its end

- on Bennington Woods Drive from Essex Court Southeast to the Ross Township line

Residents living in those areas will receive notices restricting parking along the street, and they might experience 10-minute delays getting in and out of their driveways, Ness said.