LOWER MERION — Lower Merion will soon have a new contract for removing snow on state roadways in the township.
This week, Lower Merion’s public works committee recommended that the commissioners adopt a resolution authorizing a new five-year agreement with PennDOT for Winter Traffic Services on state-owned highways in the township. The new contract runs from Oct. 15, 2025, to Oct. 14, 2030.
Paul McElhaney, director of Public Works for Lower Merion, said, “This is our standard agreement that we have with PennDOT. This is for winter maintenance. So, as you know, there are township roads and there are state roads located within the township. This is the only time in which we as a township become responsible for the maintenance of any state road, and that is only the clearing of the snow.”
McElhaney said the township is paid annually with an escalator built in that increases each year.
The township’s contract with PennDOT is “For each of the following four years of the initial term and any annual renewal term thereafter, the base rate will annually be increased by 2% and paid on or about Oct. 15. PennDOT will send, annually, a revised funds encumbrance document, or then-equivalent, to the Office of Comptroller Operations to facilitate the payment of sums of money pursuant to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.”
Under the existing agreement, which ran from 2020 to 2025, PennDOT reimbursed Lower Merion an initial $1,185 per lane mile for an initial payment to the township of $95,708.70, with a plus or minus adjustment based on the township’s actual winter maintenance costs.
“For the proposed five-year agreement (2025 – 2030), PennDOT is offering three individual rates per lane mile based on the Maintenance Functional Class (MFC) of each state-owned highway within the Township, for an initial payment to the Township of $123,522.45 for the 2025–2026 winter season,” according to the township’s staff memo to the commissioners.