Eldred Township’s Public Works Department has been busy.

Jonathan Gula, the director of the Public Works Department, told the supervisors last week that the Community Cleanup Day was successful. Residents turned in 20 tractor trailer tires, 60 car tires, 15 televisions, 10 computer monitors and disposed of two four-yard commercial dumpsters of garbage during the event on Sept. 22 and 23.

“It was busy. It was nonstop,” Gula said. “We need to continue doing this community cleanup. It really keeps are roads clean, in my opinion.”

Gula said his department took care of the heating issue in the attic above the post office. At some point in time, cardboard was placed up there to be used as insulation. They took out the cardboard and replaced it with 1.5 inches of Styrofoam insulation.

“That should take care of that problem before it gets cold and windy,” he said. “Speaking of cold and windy, we have all our salt. The salt shed is full. All of our anti-skid is full. We’re just waiting for some snow now.”

Gula said the department has also completed bridge repairs to one bridge in the township, and another one is almost done. Repairs to a third bridge will be finished in about a month.

“It’s a lot cheaper to do it in house even though it takes longer than paying somebody to do the work,” he said.

The repairs were noted on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s inspection report in 2022. They won’t be back out until next fall to check the bridges, but Gula said he get the work done now.

Gula said his department might not be able to complete all of the work on the Cedar Hollow Bridge.

“One beam might be a little more than we can do in house,” he said. “My thought process was if we can fix half or three quarters of it, it’s still cheaper.”

The additional work will need to be done in the spring, and the water will need to be diverted. Because it is a class A freshwater stream, the work cannot be done from July to September when trout spawn, Gula said.