To Municipalities in Clearfield County,
The State Conservation Commission approved changes to the Dirt, Gravel, and Low Volume
Roads program administrative manual at their Nov. 12 meeting. The manual incorporated the
new low volume road policies, and revised policy changes to the dirt and gravel road portion of
the program.
Some changes that may be of interest:

Forms have been updated, including but not limited to application, contract, project
performance report, etc.

Revised requirements for eligible roads. Roads must now be open to the public for a
minimum of two consecutive weeks to be eligible for funding (3.7.2)

Revised section on training requirements for eligible applicants (3.7.1)
o
“The ESM certified individual must be the person in charge of work plan
development and project implementation for the applying entity. Attendance by
individuals not directly involved with the project design and implementation
(interns, secretaries, etc.) do not qualify an applicant to be eligible for funding.”

Revised section on prevailing wage. The prevailing wage threshold for the program
remains $25,000.00, not $100,000.00 as originally thought (3.7.4.2)

Revised section on contract amendments. Previously an amendment could not exceed
10%.This has been increased to 20%(3.5.3)

More detail section on working off Right of way(3.7.4.4)
o
You are required to obtain written permission from landowners to perform work
off the right of way

Revised section on permitting. Districts cannot advance funds to a grant recipient, nor
can a grant recipient start a project until all required permits are in hand.(chapter 8)

Low volume road specific policy and guidelines (7.3)
o
“…the focus of LVR projects should be on long term road and environmental
improvement projects.”
o
“…no Program funds should be utilized for the specific purpose of converting
unpaved roads to paved or “tar and chip”.
o
“A “paved” road is defined to include any road surfaced with asphalt, “tar and
chip”, “chip seal”, bitumen, concrete, or other asphalt-like coating.”

o
Project eligibility states that “a road must have an existing paved surface, and it
must have a verified average daily traffic count of less than 500 vehicles per day”
o
For information about traffic count requirements please contact me at 814-7652629. A new section on traffic counts has been added to the manual (7.4)
o
“Projects in the LVR Program must contain benefits to both the road systems
(improved drainage, reduced surface, ditch & bank erosion, smoother surface,
more durable surface, reduced maintenance costs, etc.) and the environmental
systems (water quality, stream quality, reduced storm water flows, improved air
quality, increased infiltration).”
Details on the new stream crossing replacement policy (7.1)
The full manual can be found online at
http://www.dirtandgravel.psu.edu/pa_program/resources/manual.html or in hardcopy at the
Conservation District office.
Please contact me at lwhippleccd@atlanticbbn.net or 814-765-2629 with any questions.
Lydia Whipple
Program Specialist
Clearfield County Conservation District