Infrastructure in Delaware County: A Proactive Instead of Reactive Approach

Delaware County is home to thousands of miles worth of roads, pipelines and sidewalks that serve essentially as the lifelines of our communities.  Our infrastructure serves to keep the quality of life in Delaware County at a high level, a level which we would like to maintain and improve.  We want our water to be clean, our sewage disposed of efficiently and properly, and our sidewalks and roads safe and free of potholes, cracks, and other dangerous signs of aging.

Unfortunately for Delaware County, much of our infrastructure suffers from the effects of aging and constant, heavy use due to our high population density.  When added to the fact that much of the infrastructure of the region, state, and nation as a whole is beginning to reach the end of its life expectancy, it becomes clear that must make infrastructure maintenance and planning a priority in Delaware County.

Roads

The roads of Delaware County are the responsibility of each municipality in which they’re located.  The municipalities are therefore charged with the maintenance and upkeep of these roads and must keep them in a state of good repair.  This responsibility can easily become a heavy financial burden, particularly for financially distressed communities.  In Delaware County, the communities that are most likely to slip into a financially tenuous situation are the older, first generation suburbs closest to Philadelphia.  The age of these municipalities means that their infrastructure is more prone to problems associated with aging, such as potholes, cracks, and general wear.   The financial situation of these older municipalities often makes them a prime target for community revitalization initiatives, but without well-maintained roadways, it is difficult to attract both new business and new residents due to a reduced quality of life.

In our peer counties of Bucks, Chester and Montgomery, the county takes a leadership role not only in monitoring the streets of the county, but also in guiding municipalities in developing long-term plans.  The governments of our peer counties also ensure that their municipalities reach out to regional planning commissions and state sources of funding in order to secure the funding needed to undertake large maintenance or construction projects.  For instance, the state Department of Community and Economic Development offers an Infrastructure Development Program (IDP) that provides grants to businesses, counties and municipalities for the purpose of upgrading, maintaining, or constructing new infrastructure.  Delaware County’s funding lags far behind that of its peers:

Even more disturbing than the differential in funding levels is the difference in number of municipalities in which projects were undertaken.  All of Delaware County’s $2.9 million went to one municipality, while our sister counties each had projects occurring in at least 4 municipalities or more.

Delaware County must step forward to act as an advocate for its municipalities and citizens in maintaining the streets of the county.  The Public Works Department of Delaware County and the county Planning Department must work with municipalities in developing a plan for maintenance and construction, while the County Council must work with municipalities to ensure that they understand their options in terms of financing repairs and new construction. 

The county should also take advantage of the opportunities to partner with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation while advising the municipalities of the opportunity to do so.  These programs include partnerships under which a municipality or county can take on the responsibility of maintaining state-owned roads for a certain amount of money per mile per year, or through which a municipality can partner with PennDOT to provide materials while PennDOT provides personnel for a project on a state road that also affects a county road. These partnerships would allow for a municipality to ensure competitive bidding on a larger amount of work, thus decreasing the average cost per project and deriving revenue from the state to maintain its roads.

Sewers/Wastewater

Another pressing issue within our county’s infrastructure concerns our sewers and our waste water management systems.  Philadelphia was one of the first major cities in United States history, and as such the city itself and the surrounding areas developed at an early stage.  As a result, the infrastructure of Philadelphia and the surrounding area also developed very early.  Problems have since arisen in that much of our infrastructure, and our sewer systems in particular, are simply too old to handle the job entrusted to them by today’s much larger suburban population.  Problems like groundwater contamination, poor drainage, runoff and more have all become prevalent.