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“Take
me home country road to the place I was born…”
The Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission's Dirt & Gravel Road
Program is an innovative effort to fund environmentally sound
maintenance of unpaved roadway sections that have been identified as
sources of dust and sediment pollution.
Signed
into law in April 1997 as Section 9106 of the PA Vehicle Code ($9106),
the program is based on the principle that informed and empowered local effort
is the most effective way to stop pollution. We are celebrating our 10th
anniversary this year!
The law created a dedicated, non-lapsing fund - $4 million per year - to
provide money and training to local communities for local road
maintenance, specifically to halt and prevent pollution of water and
air. The funds are distributed by the State Conservation
Commission to 64 county conservation districts in
Pennsylvania
(out of 67 counties) that administer the
Dirt & Gravel Road Program.
The
state-level staff consists of a program coordinator who provides
oversight to the program as well as training and technical support that
is contracted through the
Pennsylvania
Center
for Dirt & Gravel Road Studies.
The
York County Conservation District administers the program locally and
award grants for approved road projects. The projects are:
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Proposed
by local road maintenance entities on one-page grant applications
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Reviewed
for appropriateness by a local 4-member Quality Assurance Board (QAB),
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Approved
by the county conservation district board of directors.
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And, the
maintenance practices employed in the projects must conform to the
program's unique Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance (ESM)
standards described and taught through the program.
Since
the program’s implementation in York County in 1999, over 837,862
square feet of dirt and gravel roads have been stabilized, or nearly 10
miles, for a total cost of $440,339 and an additional $201,856 of local
matching financial and technical resources.
In
2007, a total of four new projects were approved by the QAB and District
Board which will help provide an additional 3.4 miles of environmentally
sensitive dirt and gravel road maintenance at a cost of $257,824
(approximately 287,232 square feet or $0.90 per square foot).
Environmentally
sensitive dirt and gravel road maintenance helps protect water quality,
saves money, and helps preserve the rural character of the community.
For
more information, contact Gary R. Peacock, Dirt & Gravel Road
Program Coordinator, at 717-840-7430, or e-mail gpeacock@yorkccd.org
or visit www.yorkccd.org. Contact the Center for Dirt
& Gravel Studies at 1-866-668-6683 (No-To-Mud) or visit www.dirtandgravelroads.org/. |
