Road Construction Ahead
Ah, springtime! The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting a little longer and the road construction can begin!
Over the past several years, the borough has been working diligently to upgrade and repair our aging roadways with major roads like Line Street, Delaware Avenue, Cannon Avenue and Hancock Street — along with many others — all being done within the last four years. The borough’s mill and overlay program is still being finalized, however two roadways are going to be the focus of full reconstruction and repair in 2021: Laurel Lane and Columbia Avenue.
Laurel Lane was last repaired in 1994, while Columbia Avenue was last touched in 1995. Both need to be completely rebuilt (you can see our complete road maintenance tracker here). These “open heart surgeries” of our infrastructure go much deeper than just putting down new pavement and repairing potholes, as they require everything from new substructure and wastewater replacement to paving and curbing.
In short, these types of rehabilitations take time. It is likely that both roadways will be under considerable work for most of the spring, summer, and likely into the fall, as well.
Obviously, the hope every year is to do as much work as humanly possible within the confines of our budget. We all know that many roads in the borough need to be paved and repaired. In a single year we cannot do everything. However, our borough staff have been working swiftly through a multiple-year repair schedule that focuses on managing the repair of our critical infrastructure while coordinating with other authorities to ensure work is being done swiftly and on budget.
This high level of coordination is critical to ensuring that roads are repaired correctly without having another authority just rip up new pavement after it was put down.
If you live on either of the aforementioned roadways, please be cautious as work begins. We understand how frustrating it can be to have construction vehicles on your street regularly. However, the disturbance is worth it in the end. The work needs to be done, and it is important that we continue to rehabilitate our infrastructure so that people will continue to want to live, work and play in Lansdale.