Pittsfield Outlines 2015 Road Paving Projects
 Commissioner of Public Services Bruce Collingwood presented the schedule to the City Council on Tuesday night. |
Commissioner of Public Services Bruce Collingwood outlined the $3 million worth of work expected this summer.
The City Council and the mayor failed to come to terms on a capital budget until late last year so very little work was completed in the late summer and fall. Eventually, the City Council approved a $3 million borrowing authorization for road repairs.
"This year we also have quite a list of streets in the bid package," Collingwood told the City Council on Tuesday night.
"I am hoping our bids come in really low tomorrow."
That bid will feature 21 roads in varying levels of repairs.
The most expensive type of project is pavement reclamation and resurfacing and only Egremont Street will receive that. That road will use 1,469 tons of pavement to span 2,116 feet.
Three roads will receive an overlay treatment, meaning the road's surface will see a full-depth repair, leveling and structures adjusted before a new layer of top mix will be laid onto of the existing surface. Cooper, Marshall, and Fenn Streets are expected for that.
Five roads will receive pavement milling and resurfacing, meaning the top layers of the road will be milled down, cracks and deterioration in the base will be fixed, structures adjusted and then a new 2 inches of surface laid on top. Those roads will be Pomeroy, Elm, Lebanon, Brooks, and Dowse.
Ten roads are eyed for chip sealing, which is essentially a sealant that fills cracks somewhat but is able to extend the life of the road for a few years. Those roads are Leona, Harryel, Elaine, Pine Grove, Wendell, Bromback, Otis, Hampshire, Walden, and Alcott.
Woodleigh and Savoy are expected to be graded and surface compacted — they are gravel roads currently — and then two layers of chipseal will be added. Collingwood said the grading and chipseal will lay a strong foundation for the roads to eventually be paved.
"We can shift some of this work around," Collingwood said. "We can't add streets but we can tweak the applications."
Councilor at Large Kathleen Amuso said she'd like that for the street she lives on — Leona. Amuso said sections of that road is in need of more than chipsealing and in previous years residents were told the entire road was going to be repaved. Now, the road is scheduled for chipsealing.
Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli too was unhappy when he saw most of his ward left out. In a recently completed road management study the roads in Ward 7 were ranked as some of the worst and to see few roads on the list was "irritating" for Simonelli.
"I am not pleased looking at this at all and I don't think the people in Ward 7 should be happy about this at all," Simonelli said.
Mayor Daniel Bianchi said some of the roads off Wahconah Street, which is in Ward 7, were delayed because Berkshire Gas is expected to replace lines under the surface in the next few years. The same goes for some streets off Springside Avenue, where Bianchi had identified roads for repaving.
"We can't pave streets just to have Berkshire Gas tear it up," Bianchi said.
This summer is the first year of the new pavement management system that calls for the city to plan repairs to get the most out of a road, which is a change from paving the worst roads first to doing various levels of repairs on roads of all conditions. The mayor and the city engineer are responsible for crafting that plan.
"I am not part of that process. I left it to the city engineer to work with the pavement management study as best we can," Collingwood said.
Outside of the $3 million bid, the city will have money in its budget and state allocation of Chapter 90 funds. Those will be used for spot paving, pothole repairs, curb repairs, sidewalks and line painting.
Collingwood said the city will be using some $25,000 sweep the roads and contract $10,000 to sweep parking lots. He said the goal with street sweeping is to reduce the amount of contracted work to do it in house by using overtime. The sweeping starts in environmentally sensitive areas, downtown, and the southeastern side first and then moved onward from there.
 Collingwood gave the City Councilors the details of the roads. |
"It is a matter of prepping the streets and getting a break in the weather," Collingwood said when asked about a timeline.
"We are probably a month our before I expect line painting to state."
Council Vice President Christopher Connell said he would like Collingwood to look into using the more expensive thermal plastic paint on the highly traveled roads.
Connell said the city will save money over time because it would last longer. Collingwood, however, disagreed saying that the epoxy paint last nearly as long, doesn't get chipped by plows, and is nearly a third of the cost.
Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi urged Collingwood to push the contractor to paint crosswalks first.
For sidewalks, Collingwood said there is $350,000 allocated to repair roads.
"We didn't do anything last year," he said. "It is going to be very easy to spend $350,000 on sidewalks in the city of Pittsfield."
Collingwood said there will also be funds available to do curb repairs and spot paving, the scopes of which are currently being determined. The city doesn't do full reconstruction of roads but the workers can do sections to help push back the needs for repairs.
Ward 6 Councilor John Krol advocated for a section of Columbus Avenue to be worked on. That section was on the list for repairs last year but wasn't completed, he said.
"That particular section really needs it badly, particularly because of the amount of traffic," he said.
Tags: Chapter 90, paving, road work,
