North Whitehall Township Manager Jeff Bartlett opened the March 11 meeting of representatives from the six-northern Lehigh County townships.

Absent were representatives from Heidelberg and Washington townships.

"We had the same kind of winter you had, a lot of storms," Bartlett said, beginning the meeting at the North Whitehall Municipal Building.

North Whitehall Roadmaster Garry Remaley said his road crew used a great deal of salt.

Remaley said both boom and flail mowers have been used, and tree trimming has been done.

"We needed a bucket truck and had trouble finding one," he said.

Remaley said 1,000 feet of Orchard Road will be widened. There are some utility issues, so they closed the road early.

He said closing Orchard would not be much of a problem but it will be done after school is out and Sand Spring is closed.

When the roads are widened, the old surface will be milled and the entire width will be resurfaced.

The entrance to Lehigh Carbon Community College will be redone with a regular traffic light.

Going north on Route 309, there are sidewalks and retaining walls to be removed. When replaced, an attempt will be made to have them look old.

Removing contaminated soil added $1 million to the $4 million the project was expected to cost. The soil was hauled to a site near Philadelphia.

Lynn Township Roadmaster Bruce Raber said the crews were hauling away the soil near the road but back from the road the soil is just as contaminated, with arsenic from spray once used in the orchard.

"A couple small bridges are being repaired," Bartlett said. "One is for only one house across the Coplay Creek. Because it required walking in water, we had to get a permit and that took six months."

He added anglers will be walking in the water regularly.

The second bridge is on Golf Course Road. It was hit by a car, so there will be insurance to cover the $22,000 cost.

Remaley said they have started street sweeping but that did not mean winter is over.

Raber said Lynn Township crews started tree trimming in the fall to beat the bad weather.

They are filling potholes and working on dirt roads.

Roadmaster Carl Kressley of Lowhill Township said he has been short a worker so they did not get much tree trimming done.

Lowhill purchased a new truck with spreader, he added.

There are issues at the Route 100 and Claussville Road intersection.

A tractor trailer took down a pole and many homes lost electricity.

PennDOT may put up guide rail because the corner is too sharp for 53-foot trucks. They have to go over the median.

Depending how the light is seen, it can still look green because the green can be seen when the light should have only red showing. PennDOT has ordered shields to improve the traffic lights.

Weisenberg Township Supervisor Bob Milot said he rode his bike through the intersection 40 years ago and seldom had to stop because there was so little traffic.

Remaley said there seems to be more traffic on Route 100 and the probable cause is drivers using it to avoid Route 309 South.

Remaley said he has a problem with the older truck frames separating and asked if anyone knew where to get them fixed.

Triad Truck in Pottstown was suggested. Kressley said that is where they go for parts. Roadmaster Tony Werley of Weisenberg suggested Tamaqua Truck and Trailer.

He reminded the others the CoStars salt contract for the six townships has to be in by March 15.

Kressley said he got five loads last year and toward the end, it had big chunks of salt.

Milot said his township bought 13 acres next to Waste Management.

The owner had refused offers to buy the land, but came to the township and said he was ready to sell.

Otherwise, houses would have been built there and the owners would have complained about the transfer station, Milot said.

Kressley said the annual four-township spring cleanup day will be April 6 at the Lowhill Township Municipal Building.

Milot said the company that wants to build across from Arcadia is requesting bids. The building will be a 90,000-square-foot warehouse.

The Walgreens is going to be divided by a wall so one-half can be rented.

The sewage plant will be updated to accommodate both industrial parks, the elementary school and businesses along Route 863 between Route 22 and the school, he said.

Kressley said he has a John Deere 401 for sale, but Tony Werley said he keeps any old equipment that still works to use as a substitute if needed.

The townships are having difficulty finding workers to repair equipment.

Work they used to do themselves are now computer controlled.

"I'm lost," Werley said.