Highway Department: Town's road program is nearly done

Written by Rachel Kirkpatrick
Sunday, 01 November 2009 23:00

The current bonded road reconstruction work is expected to be completed in the next month.

In an update to the Board of Selectmen, Bruce Sanford, highway superintendent, described some of the challenges crews faced after last winter and revealed revenue opportunities that have developed.

Last March, taxpayers approved $1,004,725 in a capital plan for a road work program. Roads identified for work included Beck Road, Hopewell Woods Road, Deacon Abbott Road and Deacon Abbott South. A number of other roads were placed on a “watch list.”

Deacon Abbott and Deacon Abbott South were completed in July. Work on Beck Road and Hopewell Woods Road has begun, but there won’t be enough in the capital budget for the entire project because Huckleberry Road cost more than expected. As a result, Mr. Sanford will turn to his operating budget for road maintenance and take a small portion to complete Beck and Hopewell Woods Road.

“Last winter, Huckleberry took real damage,” Mr. Sanford said, adding that it was moved up on the list because of its condition.

Crews had expected to install 1,200 feet of drainage on Huckleberry, but ended up installing 2,200 feet.

“We found out there was no drainage at all on the upper end,” Mr. Sanford said.

In fact, the drainage situation was so dire it was causing a health and safety issue because water was washing out a neighboring septic system. Crews added five more basins on the road to improve the drainage. Thirteen trees were also taken down as part of the work.

“Some of the trees were splitting, some were found to be completely hollow,” Mr. Sanford said. “We started with the tree work, but then needed to address the drainage issues on private properties.”

It costs approximately $300,000 per mile to reconstruct a road, Mr. Sanford said. At 0.87 mile long, Huckleberry wound up costing $281,000 to complete.

“Once we got into Huckleberry, we wanted it done right,” Mr. Sanford said.

The good news, Mr. Sanford said, is that Beck and Hopewell roads do not have major drainage issues, which should provide substantial savings.

Mr. Sanford explained how some of the roads planned for repair needed to be deferred because other roads had sustained so much damage from the winter, which included severe ice storms and freeze and thaw cycles.

Part of the challenge for crews when reconstructing any road is that many of them were built in the 1940s and 50s and never had a proper base put in. Instead, at the time, a mix of oil and sand were used — this is why many roads have “divots and potholes,” Mr. Sanford said. In fact, crews actually found a stump under the roadway on Huckleberry Road, he said.

Like most road work, there are often unforeseen issues the crews only discover after digging into the road. On Deacon Abbott Road, crews discovered the catch basins were handmade. The problem with concrete, Mr. Sanford explained, is that salt deteriorates it, so four or five had to be taken out and replaced. It was an unanticipated cost, he said, but the work was successful.

“This is the first time we received 20 good guy letters. Usually it’s the other way around,” Mr. Sanford said of Deacon Abbott.

One road Mr. Sanford would like to get to is Great Pasture Road. It is a route commonly used by parents heading to the middle school, he said. That road was originally a dirt road, but it was paved over with no drainage measures installed.

“It needs to be reconstructed,” Mr. Sanford said.

But certain opportunities have led to some savings for the highway department.

The town saved $65,000 to $70,000 by using road millings from the state’s road work. Normally, the town would have purchased “process,” which is a stone, dirt mix used for the road base.

Instead, it used these millings and essentially recycled them. The state usually offers these materials to local municipalities after its work is complete. These millings, in particular, came from road work on Route 57 in Weston and Route 58 in Easton.

“We save where we can, we created revenue with the fill we dug out,” Mr. Sanford said.

When crews dig trenching for pipes, some of the dirt may be filled with rocks. Crews haul this material to the land fill where it is screened.

“We take out all the big rocks and end up with a clean fill, and we’ve generated a revenue because we sell it,” Mr. Sanford said.

An individual has been purchasing loads of the material. At some point, Mr. Sanford said, this revenue will benefit his department’s and Larry Kulowiec’s maintenance budgets. Mr. Kulowiec is the coordinator of the town’s Recycling Center and Transfer Station.

“I’ve got quite a pile of it and if it comes to it, I have offered the fill for future town projects,” Mr. Sanford said.

Other savings have been garnered through borrowing equipment from neighboring towns, a common practice, Mr. Sanford said.

First Selectman Natalie Ketcham mentioned seeing crews at the end of her street one morning with a Bethel sign on them. It turns out Bethel had a gravel/dirt shooter the town needed to use.

“We don’t have one, so when we need to borrow it from Bethel, we can, and I know we’ve lent to Ridgefield,” Ms. Ketcham said. “It’s the perfect example of sharing resources.”