Pittsfield To Hire Extra Help For Pothole Season
 Potholes have already formed in many city roads. And officials are expecting a whole lot more as the spring rolls in. |
The city typically has about 10 people from the House of Correction and about eight in the Highway Department working on the holes. Those will be complemented by two additional crews the city will contract.
"We expect this year is going to be a particular challenge because of the cold," Mayor Daniel Bianchi said. "With two additional crews, we should do a bang up job."
The freezing temperatures of this last winter are expected to cause more frost heaving and potholes than in other years. Water soaking into the soil underneath pavement freezes and expands. When it melts, the road erodes.
On top of the frigid weather this winter, the city hadn't done a major repaving project on roads in the late summer and fall because the funding wasn't in place. Bianchi and the City Council hadn't come to terms on the borrowing authority in time for a late summer bid last year.
Bianchi says now more than $3 million in road work is expected to go bid in the coming weeks and the city is using a bump in Chapter 90 highway funds to pay for the additional pothole patching work.
"We hoped for the middle of February [to put the road bid out] but it looks like another week or so," he said.
Highway crews will be looking for the worst potholes on main roads first. Then they'll move to the neighborhood roads. The mayor says residents should report any holes they see.
Meanwhile, road paving construction will begin on others.
"Road work in the Northeast is never-ending," Bianchi said.
In other business, the mayor said the city is in negotiations for leasing terms on a garage for Highway Department vehicles. The previous lease had expired and the city went out to bid a second time for a new lease.
Tags: Chapter 90, potholes,
