LONDON GROVE TWP, PA — London Grove Township, Chester County, received the top prize in PennDOT’s Build a Better Mousetrap Contest this morning during the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors’ Excellence Awards ceremony.
The event, which recognizes the significant achievements of townships and their officials from across the state, was held as part of PSATS’ 100th Annual Educational Conference and Exhibit Show in Hershey. Today is the opening day of the conference, which has attracted attendees from every county in Pennsylvania.
The Build a Better Mousetrap Contest honors projects built and designed by road crews or municipal employees to improve safety, reduce costs, or increase efficiency.
London Grove’s public works crew brainstormed ways to address failing inlet tops and risers.
“With our infrastructure starting to age, we were seeing a significant number of inlet top and riser failures in developments constructed during a ‘building boom’ that occurred in the ’90s and early 2000s,” says London Grove Director of Public Works Shane Kinsey. “In many of these cases, the inlet box and associated stormwater piping was in excellent condition. In one development alone, we identified the need to replace inlet tops and/or risers on over 90 inlets.
“Wanting to save costs, we wanted to limit any curb and roadway repair to those absolutely necessary,” he continues. “We quickly realized that we needed a solution to lift the inlet tops from the inside as opposed to the traditional lifting methods from the outside of the inlet top.”
The crew devised a mechanism that allows them to replace most inlet tops without removing the adjacent rolled curb, which has decreased the size of associated asphalt repairs, leading to significant cost savings in both materials and labor. The township primarily used metal left over from other projects, so the total cost of the project was under $200.
“Our public works staff pride themselves on performing the best job possible in the most fiscally responsible manner,” Kinsey says. “The staff and elected officials are proud and honored to be selected for this award, which exemplifies the goals we strive to meet daily.”
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