How to know if a taxpayer is being robbed

01.27.2014

Watchdog: Utility poles to be moved off road in Rapho

Joe Hainthaler

This utility pole, just off Route 72, sits in the middle of Engle Lane in Rapho Township.  It's one of three that need to be moved.

There are utility poles in the middle of the road by my house.

Yes, yes, the caller also said the road had been widened six months ago.

But utility poles in the middle of a road was still hard to picture.

The Watchdog drove up Route 72, just north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and found Engle Lane.

It’s a private road — gravel on one side, paved on the other — serving nine homes.

The paved portion is to the right when entering Engle Lane from Route 72.

The pole nearest Route 72 is a good foot into the paved portion and the next one is in the gravel, right against the paved portion.

Oddly, it’s the second one that was struck and damaged by a trash truck on Monday.  That might be because the first pole had cones around it.

This will be fixed. All three poles will be moved, two within a month or so.

Those two are former D&E Communications’ poles, now belonging to Windstream Corp., which acquired D&E in 2009.

“We have been in discussion with the developer and the electric company about the relocation,” Winstream spokesman David Avery said.

“We hope to have the work completed by the end of February barring anything unforeseen or weather-related,” he said.

Also, Windstream sent out a crew to brace the pole soon after it was struck, Avery said.

PPL, the owner of the third pole, the one closest to Route 72, is on it, spokesman John Levitski said last week.

“We’re aware of it,” he said. “We’re moving it. We’re expediting it and should have it moved soon.”

The Watchdog will check back in March, unless word comes sooner that the poles are out of the road.

Now we turn to how the poles ended up in the middle of a half-gravel/half-paved road.  

A new, paved lane was added to provide access to what is expected to be a two-story, 44-room Sleep Inn to be built near the Red Carpet Inn.

According to plans approved in March 2012 by Rapho Township, the Red Carpet Inn is to be torn down to make room for the Sleep Inn and a single-family home.

A note to Lancaster Watchdog readers: In an effort to be more user-friendly, items for this column will be posted as separate stories. This is one of two items this week. Click here for this week's other Watchdog.

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