Allen Township Board of Supervisors met July 27 to discuss the Catasauqua Creek bridge replacement project and the Local Share Account grant applications.

Last month, the township received notice from Northampton County that Bridge 124 over the Catasauqua Creek will be replaced as part of the public-private partnership program. The county would prefer to have a full closure of the road with a detour.

Willlowbrook Road, where the bridge is located, is a township road that allows the board of supervisors to give input on the potential detour.

Supervisor Gary Behler said he did not think there was a great option for a detour. Traffic would be routed through North Catasauqua, onto Weaversville Road or all the way up to Airport Road. Further, he recalled traffic counts were around 10,000 a day during construction of the FedEx Ground warehouse back in 2015 and 2016 and have probably increased since then.

Dale Hassler agreed and said at least one lane should be open, preferably southbound, at all times. He also stated Allen Township should let the neighboring boroughs and townships know about the construction project. This is because drivers may take their own detours into those areas and increase traffic. The other municipalities may have input as well, he added.

In other business, the board talked about the LSA grant program. The LSA application comes up every summer and is funded with a portion of the Mount Airy Casino Resort’s proceeds. There are four different project categories, and the township can apply for as many packages as it sees fit.

Township Manager Ilene Eckhart brought forward a list of ideas she had generated. These include sanitary sewer camera equipment, a trailer-mounted sewer flusher, transferring the township’s records online, a roadside mowing attachment and the MS4 project.

In order to apply, the township needs to get cost estimates from professionals and approve a resolution to apply for each different grant.

Eckhart gave a brief update on the MS4 project as well.

The Department of Environmental Protection conducted an audit with Eckhart and public works leader Tom Gogle. Allen Township has yet to complete an MS4 project, but the retention pond in the Summerglen/Brookdale area is a viable project since the township owns the property.

The board of supervisors next meets Aug. 10 and 24. The planning commission meets Aug. 16.

All meetings are held 7 p.m. at Allen Township Fire Company, 3530 Howertown Road.