WESTFIELD – While there is still time remaining until the asphalt plants shut down for the winter and effectively end thsi year’s paving season, it appears that the city of Westfield will not be able to accomplish all of the roadwork it set out to do this summer.
Rain this past weekend also put a damper on paving efforts, according to city engineering officials.
“With rain, you don’t want to pave when the roadways are wet because it won’t last,” said Heather Miller, utility engineer for the city of Westfield. “So the City Hall parking lot and Court Street were on tap and got postponed.”
“Court Street has been milled and right now they are working to raise structures and prepare it for paving,” said Miller. “West Silver Street is another one that is in progress and getting ready to be paved this year.”
Roads listed by Miller as projects that have been completed include Springdale, Shaker, City View and Old Montgomery roads, along with High Street. She added that the streets included in the city’s Gaslight District project – such as Central and School streets – are slated to be completed this year, as well.
One question on the minds of many is just how much the work is costing city taxpayers.
“The funding mechanisms for these streets are kind of all over the place,” Miller said. “Some are coming from the additional pothole money this year, there’s some that’s coming from regular Chapter 90 reimbursements, some from the city…”
According to City Engineer Mark Cressotti, paving hasn’t been any different than previous seasons.
“We generally spend about $1 million a year,” said Cressotti. “I think we spent probably $1.5 million this year in total with Chapter 90 and pothole money. I’m not sure any municipal monies have been spent.”
Cressotti added that Chapter 90 funding only goes toward approved public roadways.
“If we were going to do something that the state didn’t recognize as a public way or we didn’t get approved in a timely way, we would have had to use our own dollars,” he said.
Cressotti added that 4.2 miles of city roads have been paved this year and that 2.5 miles are lined up for next year, numbers that are in line with past years.
“I think the only thing we’re putting off till next year is a section of Little River Road that the Mayor feels is too far gone to let go until reconstruction,” Cressotti said.
“As long as the temperature reaches 40 degrees and is rising during the day, technically pavement can be laid down,” said Miller. “But as it gets colder, your window to pave grows shorter during the day. Asphalt plants will start closing down (as it gets colder) and once they close down and temps get too cold, you can’t pave anymore.”
“We did Shaker, City View and Springdale roads on pothole money, which is about $180,000,” said Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik. “These projects that we’re into now, there is a lot of extra cost – there are structures that have to be raised, heavy milling that went on and some curb sets that went on.”
“We could do more but Lane (Construction) is out of time, as they’re also doing the big project at the airport,” Knapik said. “We wanted them to continue on and do Little River Road and a couple of other smaller roads, but they’re saying they’re out of time. So we’re rushing to get where we’re at now.”
Knapik said that the city’s allocation from the state’s Chapter 90 money is just over $1 million and that the majority of these current paving projects are being funded through the state.
Knapik also mentioned Franklin Street as one that was supposed to be done this year, but that will miss the cut.
“Franklin needs a lot of curbing work, so we’re going to delay it till the spring,” he said. “It’s four lanes wide. It’s a huge road.”
In Southwick, road paving has already been completed for the year.
Department of Public Works Director Randy Brown said the town had just two major paving projects this year.
“We paved Coes Hill Road and the northern part of North Loomis Street in July,” said Brown. “There haven’t been any paving projects since then.”
Brown is waiting for a report from Beta Group on the condition of town roads before making a plan for next year’s paving.
“I’m hoping to have that in a couple of weeks and it will give us a road map for projects for the next two to three years,” said Brown. “Beyond that, we will look at updating.”
In March, the Board of Selectmen unanimously approved contracting with Beta Group for a $16,700 pavement program. Brown said he solicited quotes from three companies for pavement programs. Only two returned bids.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission proposal was $9,400 and Beta Group was $16,700, said Brown.
“Despite the higher cost, I feel the Beta Group program is superior,” he told the board earlier this spring. “The town would own it and we could use it not only for one year but in the future.”
Beta Group studied the roads over the summer.
Brown said a newly paved road has a lifespan of about 15-20 years, depending on how much use the road receives.
“There will be some patching and sealing as part of regular maintenance,” he added.
Looking toward the winter and spring, Brown said patching potholes is the only paving the Southwick DPW will perform. Last year, Brown said they tried using a hot mix product but found it didn’t work well.
“I think we will keep with the cold patch – that product worked the best for us,” Brown said.
Hope E. Tremblay contributed to this report.
