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Ferguson Township approves Pine Grove Mills bike-pedestrian project, awards $809,754 contract to low bidder
Summary
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously March 4 to accept additional PennDOT funds and award the Pine Grove Mills bike and pedestrian improvement contract to HRI ($809,754). Supervisors and residents discussed grant risk, sidewalk materials and maintenance for adjacent homeowners.
Ferguson Township on March 4 authorized acceptance of additional state and federal funds and awarded the contract for the Pine Grove Mills bike and pedestrian improvement project to HRI, the low bidder at $809,754.
Township engineer Jeremy Seibert told the board that two bids were opened Jan. 30 and that the construction-phase estimate, including inspection and contingency, is just over $931,000. PennDOT will add roughly $14,340 for a storm-pipe upgrade the state identified during design; that work is not a township obligation, Seibert said. The project was funded with $700,000 from the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TASA) program and additional Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) funds secured by PennDOT. The CRP award requires a 20% local match; Seibert estimated the township’s share at about $43,302, which he said is within the $112,000 included in the township’s 2025 operating budget for the project.
Board members pressed staff on contingency planning if federal funding were paused or rescinded. The township manager said staff budgets projects anticipating grants and that reimbursements flow through the state: contractors request payment, the state reimburses the municipality, and the municipality pays the contractor. Staff and the engineer said they have not seen current reimbursements rejected, but acknowledged that a pause could require the board to decide whether to continue work or pause and reconcile contractual obligations for work already completed.
Residents who spoke during the public hearing supported the project’s safety goals but urged the township to consider construction details. Eileen Klein and Mackenzie Ami Yamamoto Lane asked whether less burdensome sidewalk materials (for example, blacktop rather than concrete) could be used at certain stretches to reduce winter shoveling burdens on elderly or disabled homeowners; Klein said two adjacent households lack sidewalks now and would bear maintenance responsibilities after construction. Bill Keogh raised a separate concern that the township’s DEI-related policies could jeopardize federal funding; legal and staff counsel said the township is monitoring guidance and that current executive orders are generating recommendations, not immediate prohibitions.
Supervisor Patterson moved and Supervisor Strickland seconded a resolution to accept the amended reimbursement agreement, authorize the chair to sign the letter of amendment with PennDOT and to award the HRI contract in ECMS. The board approved the motion in a unanimous roll-call vote.
The manager said construction is expected to begin in April and staff will submit reimbursement requests as work progresses. The next procedural step is execution of the reimbursement amendment and contract administration in PennDOT’s ECMS system.
