Road Programs
The Dirt and Gravel and Low Volume Roads Programs are water pollution abatement programs that offer local municipalities special funding and technical support to repair, manage, and maintain their dirt and gravel roads in environmentally sound ways.
Pennsylvania’s Dirt and Gravel Road Pollution Prevention Program
Offering local municipalities special funding and technical support to repair, manage, and maintain their dirt and gravel roads.
Road Program Policies
Pennsylvania’s Dirt and Gravel Road Pollution Prevention Program
The Dirt and Gravel and Low Volume Roads Programs are water pollution abatement programs that offer local municipalities special funding and technical support to repair, manage, and maintain their dirt and gravel roads in environmentally sound ways.
Pennsylvania has over 28,000 miles of unpaved roads serving rural residents, agricultural users, forest product companies, and tourism. If not properly maintained, these roads can become sources of runoff and pollution to neighboring streams and waterways. Runoff in our waterways depletes the oxygen levels, smothering aquatic life that supports our fisheries. This pollution caused by dust and sediment is known as non-point source pollution, and is responsible for the majority of the degradation of Pennsylvania’s waterways.
Pennsylvania’s Dirt and Gravel Road Pollution Prevention Program offers local municipalities special funding and technical support to repair, manage, and maintain their dirt and gravel roads. The program is administered through county conservation districts and local Quality Assurance Boards. The program was signed into law in April, 1997, by Governor Tom Ridge. In order to participate in this program, municipalities must send representatives to a special training program.
Through the oversight of the Quality Assurance Board representing the Conservation District, the PA Fish Commission, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Dirt and Gravel Roads Program offers municipalities a locally controlled program supported by $4 million annually in non-lapsing funding. Funding is annually apportioned by the Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission.
A variety of practices may be implemented at a worksite. This can include re-grading a poor road surface, improving road drainage, and applying special road aggregate engineered to minimize dust and sediment runoff.