Limerick Manager Responds to Road Work Complaints

Limerick Township Manager Daniel Kerr addressed some “complaints and questions” from residents regarding the oil-and-chip road program, a mainstay of the township’s road maintenance program.

According to Kerr, residents have complained about the condition of roads that were recently oil-and-chipped, including those in Heritage Park off of Limerick Center Road.

Kerr said the oil-and-chip maintenance can be used to extend the life of a road with no potholes or other major issues; stones compact into the oil overtime to create a new road base.

Kerr said the township is receiving more calls this year from residents “the roads that the contractor messed up last year, and we had to redo them.”

Kerr presented a series of photos in various progressions through the oil-and-chip program; first, a photo of a road in Heritage Park, which was recently oil-and-chipped and currently has loose stones and some tar marks.

According to public works officials, the road is holding up well after the process.

“There are still some loose stones, but for the most part there is a consistent layer of stones covering the oil, which is exactly what we thought it would do,” Kerr said.

The board was then shown photos of the Fields Development off of Graterford Road, which was oil-and-chipped prior to Heritage Park and has had more time for the stones to become compounded in the tar.

Kerr then showed a photo of Walnut Farms off of Royersford Road, which has several cracks and is set to be oil-and-chipped this year.

“This is the perfect prototype for public works to go in and oil and chip; the road surface is solid, we just want to reseal it,” said Kerr.

Finally, Kerr showed a photo of Landis Creek Road, which had been oil-and-chipped six years ago; public works believe that the road can go five additional years before additional maintenance is necessary.

There may be some short-term inconveniences that the residents are dealing with, but I’m sure by September of October, when the weather cools off,  the roads will look like [Landis Creek Road],” Kerr said.