Cheshire to Pave Three Roads
A group of Maple Drive residents attended last week's Selectmen's meeting to support plans to pave their road.
Highway Superintendent Blair Crane asked for the selectmen's permission last week to put the three projects out to bid.
"The road report I gave you listed roughly about a dozen streets and roads that were in disrepair to the point where they need to be rebuilt," Crane said. "These three are the worst contenders and I want to tackle them."
Crane said he estimates the three roads will cost nearly $250,000 to improve, which would leave the town with around $180,000 in Chapter 90 funds.
Selectwoman Carol Francesconi had concerns about expending so much state road money but Crane said the balance should be enough to handle any emergency.
"I feel $150,000 to $200,000 is a comfortable margin if something were to happen," he said. "Obviously, if a ridge goes down that is beyond our repair anyways."
Francesconi said she wished Crane would consider Depot Street that is in the center of town, has a higher traffic flow and is also in bad condition.
The town applied for the state's Complete Streets Program to improve both Depot and Railroad streets but were not awarded the grant funds.
The town used $27,839 in Chapter 90 funds last year to contract with StreetScan Inc. of Burlington to record, digitize and score the condition of every road in town. Blair said the three streets chosen scored the highest in the entire town.
Out of 100, Maple Drive scores 39, West Mountain Road 36 and the section of Wells Road, scored a 42.
He added that the Water Department also plans to install new water lines downtown and it would be counterintuitive to pave Depot Street only to rip it up again.
The board called down Water Commissioner Francis Waterman, who said the project is in line for this year.
"We are putting it all together, so we can put it out to bid," Waterman said. "It will all be done."
Crane said the town will receive more Chapter 90 funds by next spring that will give it the "shot in the arm" needed to improve Depot Street.
Selectman Robert Ciskowski noted that Maple Drive is a very low traffic area and Francesconi said it has been paved already multiple times, but Crane said it really needs to be redone.
"It is beyond repair ... the base is marginal and when we are plowing in the winter time it is getting to the point now where the road is starting to ripple," Crane said. "The plows are just going to shave that off."
Ciskowski also was hesitant about Wells Road that has drainage issues and really needs more than a new layer of pavement.
"Something has to be done more than just paving ... I won't say it's a waste but the road is so bad underneath," he said. "It has water drainage issues. I know we can't leave the road like it is but repaving it is just kicking the can down the road."
Crane agreed and said a portion of the road is below grade. He said a true fix would be much more money and the outlined solution is the best the town can do right now.
The conversation eventually moved back to the town's Complete Streets application and Town Administrator Mark Webber said the town can apply again this fall, but it must be a different project.
"I think we will get together and jigger it," he said. "We can't do this again, we have to pick another project. Once they have seen it, they are not going to accept it with a different dress on."
He said the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission that administered the application said the town's application had no real flaws but did not score as highly in the "equity" section of the program that grants communities with a higher minority and non-English primary speaker population more points.
Webber said because they can't really change the makeup of the town the town instead must focus on mobility and safety.
Tags: Chapter 90, complete streets, paving,
