Section 5931 - Improvement on order of court of common pleas(a) In all cases in which it shall be found impossible to enter into such contracts or agreements, or where either the city or borough and the township or the county in which such township is situated shall refuse to enter into such contract or agreement, either the municipality or the county or township may present its petition to the court of common pleas of either county setting forth the facts and circumstances, including the condition of the road from which the necessity and desirability for the grading, curbing, macadamizing or paving of the roadway appears, and the estimated cost thereof, and that the terms of such contract cannot be agreed upon by the municipality and county or township, or either or any of them, or that either such municipality or the county or township or any of them refuses to enter into such contract.(b) The petition may pray that the court, after hearing all the parties concerned, make its order or decree defining the nature and character of the improvement reasonably necessary or desirable to be made to the roadway, and requiring the parties hereinabove specified to enter into a contract or contracts for the making and constructing of the same as herein provided for. A copy of said petition, duly certified, shall be served upon the municipality or county and township concerned, other than the petitioner, with notice of the day fixed by the court for the hearing. Thereupon, any of the parties served with such notice shall be entitled, on or before such date, to file in the court its answer to said petition setting forth its version of the facts or such other matters in relation thereto as may be deemed necessary or proper by it.(c) The court, upon the date fixed or at such other time as it may appoint, shall hear the evidence of the parties, or it may refer the matter to a master who shall hear the testimony of the parties and report his findings, in the same manner and under the same procedure as provided by the rules in equity in similar cases, to the court, which may reject, confirm or modify the same, and may make its decree or order directing the making of such alterations or improvements to the roadway as may be deemed reasonably necessary or desirable, and providing for the sharing of the cost of such improvements, one-half by the municipality and one-half by the county and township, in equal portions.(d) Said order or decree may further provide that the repairs to such alterations and improvements subsequently required shall be borne one-half by the municipality, whether borough or city, and one-half by the county or township, in equal portions, or such other proportions as between the county and the township as such court may find to be legal and proper. Thereupon, the grading, curbing, macadamizing or paving of the roadway of such road shall proceed in accordance with the decree or order of the said court, in the same manner as if the contract or agreement had been entered into and duly executed.1953, July 28, P.L. 723, art. XXIX, § 2931. Amended 2004, Nov. 30, P.L. 1439, No. 186, § 36, effective 1/31/2005.