Excavation Contractors in Salisbury Township, PA

Excavation contractors in Salisbury Township deal with more elevation change than almost anywhere else close to Allentown. The township drops to about 220 feet on the Lehigh River and rises to 1,030 feet at Big Rock County Park on South Mountain, which forms its border with Upper Saucon Township. Between those two points are neighborhoods on slopes, lots that shed water onto each other, and driveways that climb.

Water moving downhill

On a slope, every lot is either sending water or receiving it. Many Salisbury drainage problems begin uphill: a neighbor's new patio, a driveway that funnels runoff, or a grade that has eroded. A curtain drain across the uphill side of a yard, a swale along the property line, or a regraded driveway apron usually solves it. We look at the whole slope, not just the wet spot.

Small township, many neighborhoods

Salisbury covers 11.17 square miles and had 13,621 residents in 2020, a number that has barely changed since 2000. Farmington, Gauff Hill and Summit Lawn are in the east, and the Dorneyville area straddles the line with South Whitehall in the northwest. With stable housing, most of our work here improves existing homes: additions, garages, retaining-wall backfill, drainage and lateral replacement.

Roads on the hill

The township maintains 65.04 of its 77.68 miles of public roads. Major routes include I-78 and PA 309, PA 29, PA 145 (Pike Avenue), Lehigh Street and Cedar Crest Boulevard. Steep streets make truck staging harder, and we plan where trucks can safely load before the job starts.

Planning a Salisbury project

On sloped lots, access is often the first question. A compact excavator can work on surprisingly steep grades, but dump trucks need a level place to load, and that may be on the street. We plan staging, protect curbs and driveways, and keep loads light on steep driveways.

The township's 2010 count of 5,595 housing units includes homes built on terraced lots, homes with walkout basements on the downhill side and homes set into the slope. Each has its own drainage logic. Walkout basements, for example, often need a drain along the uphill side and a clear path for water around the house.

Weather

Average monthly temperatures near South Mall range from 29.0 degrees in January to 73.7 in July. On slopes, freeze-thaw and heavy rain both move soil, so we stabilize bare ground quickly after grading.

Cutting into a slope

Level space on a hillside lot comes from cut-and-fill, a retaining structure, or both. Fill placed on a slope must be benched into the hill and compacted, or it slides. We tell you when a wall needs an engineer and coordinate with the wall builder on backfill and drainage behind it. Call (610) 756-2728 or

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