In 1997 the State Legislature established the Dirt and Gravel Road Program.  This program uses funds from the motor vehicle license and registration fund to provide monies to municipalities to stabilize dirt and gravel roads.  The purpose is to reduce the amount of sediment generated from dirt and gravel roads that enters Pennsylvania waters.  The funds are provided to the State Conservation Commission which then allocates the funds to Conservation Districts based on the miles of dirt roads in the county.  The Board of Directors appointed a Quality Assurance Board to make decisions regarding the program on a county basis.  The Quality Assurance Board is composed of representatives from the Conservation District, NRCS, Gateway Engineers, the County Planning Commission, and the PA Fish and Boat Commission.

Low Volume Roads were added to the program with the 2014-2015 funding year. Low Volume Roads are roads with less than 500 vehicles per day. Traffic counts are required to be submitted with all Low Volume Road applications. Conservation Districts are now accepting applications for Low Volume Road projects. The main focus for Low Volume Roads continues to focus on sedimentation control through improved and stabilized road drainage. It is not the intention of the Low Volume Roads program to pave roads.

Hickory Road- West Pike Run Township

            -Drainage Improvements: Culverts and Road Base

            -Driving Surface Aggregate (DSA)

            Grant Amount: $32,491

Grable Road- West Bethlehem Township

            -Driving Surface Aggregate (DSA)

            Grant Amount: $48,760

Municipalities and other road-owning entities that attend an "Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance" training are then eligible to apply to the Conservation District for grant funding using environmentally sensitive practices. At least one representative from a municipality must attend an ESM training every 5 years in order to be eligible for grant funding.  The representative from the municipality that attends the training must be the municipal official that will oversee the Dirt, Gravel & Low Volume Road project.  

Registration and Event Information can be found here

Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance of Dirt and Gravel Roads