WESTFIELD – Mayor Brian P. Sullivan and City Engineer Mark Cressotti announced Thursday the establishment of a five-year pavement management program for Fiscal Years 2017 to 2022.
The program generally calls for milling of 2-inches and paving an overlay of the same thickness. This saves on the cost of raising structures and minimizes conflicts with driveways and other intersections.
MARK CRESSOTTI
Streets identified for mill and overlay for the coming construction season are Franklin Street, from Summer Street to Allen Street; northernmost portions of Montgomery Road; and Southwick Road, from Mill Street to the Southwick town line.
Combined, these projects represent nearly $1.2 million in construction. Projects will be funded by the state’s Chapter 90 Local Road program.
“This pavement management program has been a work-in-progress through the Engineering Department,” Mayor Sullivan said. “The Department has worked to assess road conditions on all public streets and assign pavement condition scores and we are using those scores to prioritize our limited funds,” he continued.
In addition to new pavement, the program includes multiple streets for preventative maintenance which involves either crack sealing, chip seals, fog seals or micro seals as deemed suitable by the Department of Public Works.
“An important part of pavement management is to do preventive maintenance on all roads to slow deterioration,” Cressotti said. “We understand that there will never be sufficient funds to do all that needs to be done, but this effort will allow for our limited dollars to be spent more effectively,” he said.
The Department of Public Works has also initiated an effort with in-house resources to perform short segments of mill and overlay to augment the program and address stressed pavement segments. This has been achieved on City View Road between Butternut Road and City View Boulevard.
“The staff at the DPW have enthusiastically taken on these assignments,” Mayor Sullivan said. “I am pleased we have a multi-year and multi-pronged plan to improve our roads,” he concluded.
Questions may be directed to the City Engineer, Mark Cressotti, at telephone #413-572-6219 or email [email protected]
