Three East Penn Township Board Supervisors and two residents piled onto a yellow school bus Saturday morning to take stock of the 40-plus miles worth of roadway in the scenic municipality.

"The goal of today is about educating people," said Vice Chairman Richard DeLuca. "The roads around here are in bad shape."The theme of the excursion was priority and maintenance, which were the focal points of discussion for each mile of blacktop inspected.Money was cited as the biggest holdup regarding making necessary repairs, according to board Chairman William Schwab."If we don't have money, then what are we doing this for," asked resident Al Miskevish. "There's only a few of us here. You'd think people would have more of an interest.""Well nothing has been done for so long," Schwab said. "You can hire the best roadmaster in the world, but if you don't have the money it doesn't matter."DeLuca and fellow Supervisor Alice Berger, along with residents Miskevish and Dot Ebbert, boarded the vehicle as Schwab told the group the purpose of the day was to "highlight what we've seen to be some of the worst roads."The trip began at the township building on Municipal Road, one of the top five high-priority roads listed in the 2016 evaluation report submitted by Hanover Engineering Associates Inc. on March 31. Picnic Woods, Church Hill, West Bowmans and Gilberts Hill roads completed the high-priority list.Each repair would cost between $109,000 and $299,000. The list was determined by traffic volume combined with the conditions of the asphalt, or lack thereof, on the township roadways."Most of our roads are old dirt roads that new roads were built on top of. Stone Mountain Road has no base to it," Schwab said.According to the report, the majority of roads were built over 40 years ago and do not meet present-day specifications and materials. A subbase for the roads is "mostly nonexistent" and the pavement rests directly on soil. The report warns that these condition cause roads to be very prone to poor drainage and can cause pavement failure.The report, written by township engineer Michael Muffley, calls for "full repair of road sections. Surface repairs and treatments are possible, but the poor subsurface conditions will quickly cause reflective cracking and pavement failure within a few years at best.""When you run for office you say 'we're going to do this, fix that' but then you get in and look around and have to figure out what to do first," DeLuca said. "Everyone wants their road to be first, but you go down the list and figure out what you need to fix first."According to the report, several roads face drainage issues or crumbling shoulders. The causes of these issues are steep slopes and tight road corridors. Many roads are in a "cut" condition, which does not allow stormwater to flow away from the road. Swales are inadequately sized and stabilized to receive heavy storms."The poor drainage conditions result in undermining of the roadway, deposit of sediment of private property and affects the safety of the road. Roads are crowded by trees or steep embankments which allow little or no room for the construction of shoulders or drainage features. The current trend of seal coats and overlays on the aging roads maybe inexpensive and immediate, but it is not a long-term solution," Muffley said. "Those types of repairs will only hold up for a few years."Muffley wrote, "The determination of the report is that the roads are in poor condition and a great effort will be required to bring all roads into a state of maintenance rather than a state of repair."The breakdown of cost over the course of a 50-year life cycle for all 40.07 miles would be $10 million, plus an additional $6.9 million for maintenance, a combined cost totaling $340,000 per year."It's funny no one ever knew there wasn't enough money to do this stuff," Ebbert said during the drive."You focus on your own road and don't realize we have to prioritize," Schwab said.