John Mack - Newtown Supervisor
Lower Dolington Road Trail Construction Barricades Are a Pedestrian Safety Concern!

Lower Dolington Road Trail Construction Barricades Are a Pedestrian Safety Concern!

 

Construction of the Lower Dolingtion Trail has been intermittently “underway” for many months. At the May 25, 2022, Board of Supervisors (BOS) meeting [LINK], the supervisors approved “Change Order No. 2,” which extended the date of completion for all authorized work to July 19, 2022. This was after a previous change order allowed for a 60-day extension. Meanwhile, construction is NOT underway and hasn’t been underway since way for at least 2 months (as of June 8, 2022).

At the June 8, 2022, BOS meeting I asked the Township Engineer Leanna Colubriale, what was holding up the work. View the video clip below to hear her answer.

Ms. Colubriale was not able to give a specific date in answer to my question. Construction seems dependent on relocating fiber optic cable in the ground under the nascent trail between Everett Dr. and Stanford Dr. That work is the responsibility of Lumen [Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice, and managed services]. You might have seen the flags indicating locations of cables, which are holding up construction.

Meanwhile, the BOS approved a payment to Associated Paving Contractors, Inc. - the company doing the work - in the amount of $220,795.53. Recall that on March 23, 2022, the BOS approved a payment in the amount of $264,647.51. This covers the work done to date.

Barrels & Netting Hazard!

According to residents, the delay is causing safety issues. I have received at least 2 emails from local residents regarding the hazards caused by the barrels and netting construction barricades at the intersection of Lower Dolington Road and Stanford Drive/Place (see photos below).

Barrels & netting at the southwest corner of the Lower Dolington Rd/Stanford Place
at the entrance to the Country Bend Development.
Barrels and netting at the southeast corner of Lower Dolington Rd/Stanford Drive
at the entrance to The Ridings of Newtown and Raintree/Windermere developments.

“With the barrels and netting in place neither the handicapped nor able bodied are able to cross at these locations,” said a Stanford Place resident. “That presents a safety hazard to those who want to cross at those locations.” The barrels and netting are “overdo for removal” since the curbing and handicap ramp at these locations have been completed for more than 2 months. “Removing those barriers should have taken place a long time ago,” said the resident. I agree!

A Raintree/Windermere neighborhood resident suggested that the large construction barriers surrounded by orange netting has “made the driving turns onto Stanford from Lower Dolington dangerous. The sight line at these corners are blocked off, and it is harder to see any pedestrians or bicyclists. Most cars making the turn onto Stanford from Lower Dolington swing to avoid the barriers and end up partially driving into the other side of the road,” said the resident who has stopped using that exit because of this.

The netting also blocks access to landscaping. “Knowing construction isn’t going to resume anytime soon, and assuming the concrete has dried, please remove these barriers and allow … landscaping to be cleaned up,” requested the resident.

I sent these concerns Micah Lewis, the Township Manager, who said the township will “look into it.” You can be reach Mr. Lewis by email: micahl@newtownpa.gov or via phone: 215-968-2800 x250

“Unexpected Utility Conflicts” – Really?

UPDATE (6/16/22): Mr Lewis responded to a complaint by the Country Bend HOA President: “Unfortunately, we have encountered significant delays due to supply chain issues and unexpected utility conflicts during construction, which impact the underground infiltration trenches designed as part of this project. The contractor has been granted an extension until mid-July, at this time. I have cc'd the Township Engineer in charge of the project to this correspondence. We have received similar complaints related to the traffic control devices, and will be addressing the issue with the contractor.”

IMHO, “utility conflicts” (i.e., underground fiber cables) should not be “unexpected.” The township engineering firm is paid to discover those “utility” conflicts BEFORE construction begins. To date that firm has been paid  $140,464.14 related to this project.

UPDATE (6/28/22): The barrels and netting have been relocated to allow access to the new sidewalks and crossing as well as improving motorist line of site when making turns onto Lower Dolington Road, which was also a concern of residents. 

UPDATE (6/29/22): From the Township Manager: “The issue was the "one call" design mark-out as I understand it. Each utility company has to mark out their own utilities (similar to the Township having to mark out storm pipe) when a one call is requested. The design one call information that was marked out by Lumens & Artesian was wrong. The contractor found this out when performing the work in accordance with the design specifications. I agree that this is taking ridiculously wrong, and is frustrating for such a simple project, but the blame is to be placed on the utilities that did not mark out the correct locations of their infrastructure from the pre-design phases.”

The following “Trail Trash Tour” video was made on 6/29/22:

FURTHER UPDATE (6/30/22): After this video was shown to the Township Manager, the township removed at least some of the garbage/litter and removed the netting laying on the ADA ramp. The barrels and netting have been removed from the sidewalk on the northeast corner at Stanford Dr to allow pedestrians to reach the intersection. Other barrels and netting have been moved to be less intrusive. There is still weed overgrowth as before and landscapers are blocked from properly mowing and attending the flowers and other plants. The site remains unsightly. It would cost the township $800-$1,000 to "redeploy" the contractor to come back to the site and do the job of removing these unneeded barrels and netting and debris (such as the cut cable, which remains but is blocked off by netting). In my opinion they should have done a cleanup BEFORE they left the site long ago.

Some History

This project has been delayed several times.

Posted on 15 Jun 2022, 12:42 - Category: Public Safety