Within the next two to three years, two major state roads in Whitehall Township will become part of the township's street network.

The change is the result of PennDOT's Turn Back Program which requires the township to take responsibility for the maintenance of the roads.

Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. said Lehigh Street in Hokendauqua and a section of Schadt Avenue from MacArthur Road to Mauch Chunk Road will fall within the purview of the township.

Hozza, Deputy Mayor Jack Meyers and Carl Lagler, township surveyor, met with PennDOT representatives about the Turn Back Program.

"We have a verbal agreement with PennDOT," Hozza said. A signed agreement for the transfer of ownership of Lehigh Street and Schadt Avenue will come later.

The transfer will not take place for two or three years.

"The township will assume responsibility once the bid is let for the replacement of the Fifth Street Bridge," Hozza said.

The agreement gives responsibility for estimating repair and resurfacing costs and providing numbers to the state by mid-November. The township will receive payment from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and then resurface and repair the roads.

"This will not occur until 2015," Hozza said.

The township, not Penn-DOT, will either improve the two roads or task private contractors with construction.

Major state roads still exist in the township such as Route 145 (MacArthur Road), Route 329 in Cementon and Egypt and Third Street in Fullerton.