Walker Township has received $37,040 from the PennDOT Turnback Program.

The Highway Transfer “Turnback” Program allows the transfer of functionally-local state-owned roads, serving a local traffic purpose, from state government to local government ownership. Roads that are candidates for transfer are those that have low average daily traffic, or would benefit the municipality both socially and economically.

After the road is turned back to the municipality, PennDOT provides money to the municipality each year to cover the costs associated with maintaining the roadway at a rate of $4,000 per mile. PennDOT releases annual maintenance payments on March 1, two years after the year of transfer.

Township Secretary Ann Ostergaard reported the township reported $73,151.93 from Liquid Fuels. The Municipal and County Liquid Fuels Programs support maintenance and construction efforts on locally owned roads, streets, and bridges. The money Walker Township received is an annual payment, deposited March

Potholes

Township Roadmaster Chad Felty reported that he has been working on filling potholes around Walker Township.

“(I filled some on) Valley Road, there are some on Mountain Road that someone painted stripes on that I will fill.”

Felty reported that he will be taking the skid loader to Kettle Road to fix some potholes there. He and several of the township supervisors will be making road inspections in March to determine what roads need repairs.

DUI checkpoint cases

“A lot of the cases from the DUI checkpoint are making their way through the magistrate’s office,” Borough Solicitor Chris Riedlinger reported. “I’ve seen a couple cases already. The next day of criminal preliminary hearings at the magistrate’s office is March 21, and I believe there are three of them scheduled.”

Walker Township held its first DUI Checkpoint on Oct. 17 at the intersection of Wildcat Road and Route 443. As a result, there were 8 DUIs, 15 citations for traffic violation, 5 arrests for narcotics, and 13 vehicles towed from the scene due to expired licenses and refusal DUIs. Personnel from Walker Township, Lehighton Borough, Cass Township, Branch Township, West Penn Township, and Foster Township participated in the checkpoint.

No plans have been discussed yet for the next checkpoint.