Northampton Township state grants worth about $2.3 million were presented to the Board of Supervisors at its July 22 meeting, in two checks that between them pay for four separate pieces of work. The larger, $2,010,171, is for pedestrian safety. The smaller, $364,027, rebuilds a stormwater basin.
The three lawmakers who represent the township in Harrisburg, Sen. Frank Farry, Rep. Kristin Marcell and Rep. Joe Hogan, handed the awards over. The meeting agenda listed the item near the top, under special presentations, as a presentation by state officials on grant awards. The money comes out of three programs: the Local Share Account, the Small Water and Sewer Fund, and the Multimodal Transportation Fund, which the state Department of Community and Economic Development administers.
None of the four projects is new to the township’s capital list. What the grants settle is who pays for them.
Four crossings near schools
The smallest piece of the pedestrian award, $159,000, covers four crossings the township ranked as high priority, each of them close to an elementary or middle school. They are New Road at Norton Drive, New Road at Jennifer Lane, Middle Holland Road at Liberty Drive, and East Holland Road at Grant Drive. The work at each is the same set of items: a high visibility crosswalk, curb ramps built to accessibility standards, and signage and pavement markings placed in advance of the crossing so a driver reads it before arriving at it…