Italy Road in Export will get state-funded upgrades through 'turn-back' program

In exchange for taking over Italy Road’s maintenance from the state, Export will be able to fund some long-awaited improvements on the section of the road that lies inside the borough.

“I think this is going to be a great deal for Export,” borough Solicitor Wes Long said.

Council unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday night with PennDOT’s Turnback program. The PennDOT agrees to fund upgrades to the road and its accompany infrastructure, and in exchange the borough will take over its maintenance for things like plowing, salting or future upgrades.

“This is going to be a brand-new street from the bottom up, and PennDOT is investing $1.6 million into work along the 0.8-mile section in the borough,” Long said. “It will be our responsibility after that, but long-term, I think this will be great.”

Long said the agreement is the best and most cost-efficient way to fund improvements to the road.

“When we met with PennDOT, they said the road really isn’t a high priority for them,” he said, adding that he hoped the first Turnback program payment arrived before upgrades begin.

“That way, we don’t have to worry about getting things like a highway occupancy permit and other state permits, because it won’t be a state road anymore — it’ll be ours,” he said.

Sewage work

Council President Barry Delissio also said work will start soon to address a partially collapsed borough sewage line along Lincoln Avenue.

“We’re planning work there once the weather breaks,” he said.

Delissio and Long both addressed a resident question about rising sewage bills, noting that Export has met nearly all of the requirements in a 2019 consent order from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The order was aimed at addressing outdated infrastructure along with the infiltration and inflow of storm water into sewage pipes.

“That was a required, but unfunded, project for the Franklin Township Municipal Sanitary Authority and all of the towns that send sewage there,” Long said. “And the cost on these municipalities has been extraordinary.”

While the mandates in the consent order were necessary to address a large sewage system that had been neglected for a lot of years, Long said the timeline meant a hefty price tag for sewage customers.

“The changes were condensed into a short period of time,” he said. “That’s why there’s been a rapid increase in rates — because so much work needed done.”

Through the upgrades in the consent order, average daily sewage flow into the FTMSA’s Meadowbrook Road plant has gone down by 35%, from 3.7 million gallons per day in 2020 to 2.5 million gallons in late 2024, according to authority manager Nicholas Kerr.

This summer, FTMSA, Export and others must perform some additional monitoring of flow through the system, which will be reported to the DEP next year.