Roads concern residents, lack of money is the issue
By Caitlyn Kelleher

The residents of Mason Road are a little upset by the recent paving of Erickson Road, but the highway superintendent says a lack of money is prioritizing the roads.

Dan Meunier was so concerned about its condition he has brought it to the attention of selectmen.

"As a resident of Mason Road, I am a little confused why Erickson Road was recently paved when most if not all town officials would agree that Mason road is in much worse condition," he wrote. "I am writing to you looking for a legitimate reason for the lack of consideration in this recent paving project."

A portion of Erickson Road was repaved this summer, said Highway Superintendent William Davis. He said only

a little more than a mile of the road was paved and cost the town $194,000 of their state money.

"We have put in for a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion about two years ago for Mason Road and we set aside Chapter 90 (state) money for Erickson Road," he said. "The people voted the Prop. 2 1/2 down."

Meunier doesn't understand why the state money was used to pave Erickson Road, which was in better condition.

"He had the money somewhere because he paved Erickson Road instead," Meunier said. "If he didn't pave Erickson Road I wouldn't have much right to complain. It is well known Mason Road is the worse in town."

Davis said Erickson Road became a priority because it leads to Piper Road that leads to Spring Hill Road where the Shakleton School is located and which emergency vehicles need to be able to access.

It cost about $194,000 to pave 6,600 feet (just over a mile) of Erickson Road.

Davis said he understands why residents like Meunier are upset and why they want to have their roads smooth and freshly paved.

"I feel residents are feeling discouraged from the amount of taxes they are paying and they aren't seeing much for it," he said.

Davis said his department's budget keeps getting cut because it isn't a public safety department and it isn't the schools. As part of the regional school system the district must match the amount money that Townsend and Pepperell are paying based on the percent of students enrollment, this means that over 60 percent of the town budget goes to education.

"It's pretty frustrating," he said.

He said the town continues to under fund road repair. He sites the fact that road repair budget is down nearly $20,000 in the last 20 years. A statistic he points out that doesn't match what has gone on in town with the increasing houses, traffic and miles of roadway.

"This is no secret - I've been speaking out at department head and town meetings about what was going to happen (to the roadways)," Davis said. "Unless your road fails, you don't see it."

Davis was appointed as the highway superintendent in September 1992.

"They can't just rely on what the state give us," he said. "They should at least be matching what the state give us but they can't do it."

As superintendent, Davis decides which of the roads are repaired and in what order. He says he uses his own experiences driving around the town to determine the order of work but the amount of work that is done is based on the budget.

"There are roads in town that haven't seen surfacing and work in my 20 year tenure," Davis said.

Meunier said in just over a year he has had to replaced two sway bar links one his car and he's had to replace a ball joint and had to have an alloy wheel straightened after hitting a hole in the road.

"I currently try not to travel on Mason Road because of the unsafe conditions," he wrote to selectmen.

Meunier is a member of the finance committee, but he said he wanted to address this issue as a resident.

"It is personal, not business," he said. "It doesn't make sense why he picked the better road in town."

Davis said he is able to do less and less work each year.

"I would at no point say it is worth shutting down," he said. "We can go indefinitely but things will get worse. I grew up in town here. I feel a sense of responsibility to the town for the job entrusted to me."

The Safe Roadways law states that a town has a "reasonable" amount of time to repair a roadway that is causing damage. Davis said reasonable is based on weather conditions and other project that the department is working on.

"We do keep complaint sheets here and at the town offices," Davis said. "I don't think that many people realize all the type of work the highway department does to keep the general maintenance."

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