Highway superintendent lays out road repair plan
By Caitlyn Kelleher

Selectmen were pleased with the detailed plan that Highway Superintendent Bill Davis described for the next 12 months.

But, they and Davis agreed that serious issues might arise because of a decreasing budget. Davis said a number of the projects scheduled would be paid for through last year's budget.

"We have to get back to Wares Road, we started that drainage work last year," Davis said.

The work on Wares Road, along with most of the sealing work on the roads, is being done with money already set aside for those projects, Davis said.

The department also plans on resurfacing a section of Crocker Road beginning in April 2007.

Davis plans to patch and reseal a 1.7mile stretch of Jones Hill Road, three miles of Crocker road, .1 miles of Mayo Road, .6 miles of Taylor Road and .4 miles of Nourse Road.

Also on the list of repairs on town roads are fixing a catch basin on each Simonds, West and Turnpike roads and Mill Creek Drive as well as to replace a culvert on Jones Hill Road.

Davis also included in his plan annual items including grading the gravel road, mowing along the roads, and routine maintenance and repairs, which will occur as needed based on the weather.

The good news was that the state Legislature increased the town's Chapter 90 - road repair - money by $64,251. This money can only be used on roads deemed acceptable by state regulations.

It costs between $100,000 to $140,000 a mile to pave a road and to improve the drainage alongside it, Davis said. Most roads should be repaved every 10 years.

Davis said that there are 63 miles of road in town with 11 of those miles being gravel road.

"We should be paving six miles a year," Selectman Geoff Woollacott said.

He said he knows the strain the department has been under in terms of low manpower and tight budgets, but that the public needs to be aware as to why the roads aren't getting paved more often.

"We're setting ourselves up for more emergency things," Woollacott said.

Davis agreed saying if there are no improvements being made to a road then there is going to be a steady decrease in the quality of the roads.

The other problem the department is facing is that the increasing petroleum prices are increasing the cost of asphalt and other materials.

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Caitlyn Kelleher can be reached at (978) 827-3386, ext. 15, or e-mail: caitlynkelleher@ aol.com