Dear Friends,
Good morning. Have you ever heard of the “Forgotten
Mile?” There’s an informal group whose roots lie along that “Forgotten Mile”
which runs from the intersection of Routes 212 and 412 near Springtown to the
A
“I have a group that’s been asking [State Representative]
Paul Clymer to help us but nothing’s happening,” Evans began. “We’d like to
tell you our story.”
We agreed to meet at McDonald’s in Hellertown, the
headquarters of this informal body, but I had to do some homework first. I
called Dawn Knisley, the District Manager for PennDot in
“Yes, we know all about the residents’ complaints,” she
told me, “And they’ll be glad to know that the road will be repaired and
resurfaced this summer.” Knisley estimates that the project will cost around
$50,000. “We truly understand their frustration,” she added. “We’ll all be
happy when it’s [the repairs] done.”
Armed with this news, I arrived at the Hellertown
McDonalds, ready to announce that help was on the way for the “Forgotten Mile.”
Six older gentlemen were gathered about a picnic table.
Evans
greeted me and I asked them to introduce themselves. Besides Evans, they were:
Harry Baringer, a retired steel worker from
They scoffed at my good news. “Is that all?” Evans
smirked at the $50,000 road repair estimate.
“That’s not enough to get that job done,” Meyers chimed
in, adding facetiously that the reason why it’s taken so long to get the
potholes fixed on the “Forgotten Mile” is “Because the holes aren’t deep
enough.”
“We’d like to know why surveyors are there so often,” Evans
said. “And what about that narrow bridge? I’ll bet PennDot won’t fix it. A box
culvert is the solution and it could be repaired in a week.”
“If they’d done it right years ago, they wouldn’t have
this problem,” Don quipped, grousing about the “Forgotten Mile’s” potholes.
“They [PennDot] need a good base before they put new
topping on that road,” Evans said, “Or it won’t hold up. I could get 100 names
on a petition for Paul Clymer if it would help.”
Time will tell whether the complaints and fears of the
“Forgotten Mile” will ease. By September, the world will know whether the
repairs were made…and a year from now whether they’ll stand up to heavy truck
traffic and winter weather.
In the meantime, the caucus continues to meet. Evans
regretted that Charles Diehl, a
The group talks about local and foreign topics when it’s
not discussing roads. The band of brothers reminded me of an out door barber
shop, a place where the locals convene to tackle world affairs. All they needed
was a pot-bellied stove.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith