MONROE, CT — Public Works crews and private contractors are tasked with maintaining 145 miles of roads in Monroe. It is a balancing act of mixing more expensive drainage and paving jobs with lighter treatments to extend the life of other roads, until bigger projects are needed.
Though the town hires contractors, Monroe bought its own roller and a mid-size paver last year, so its highway crews could also tackle some jobs on their own.
First Selectman Terry Rooney said town highway crews adapted to the paver quickly, learning the ins and outs of it to get things done
“It’s a sense of pride,” Deputy Public Works Director Bill Phillips said.
Among the roads the town maintained in-house this year were Academy Lane, Bridge Road, the Todd Drive cul-de-sac, Heather Road, and Wheeler Road from Route 111 to Hammertown Road to name a few.
“It’s probably the longest road we’ve ever paved ourselves,” Rooney said of Wheeler.
The Wheeler Road job consisted of a one-and-a-half mile stretch.
By the end of this season, Phillips estimates 15 to 20 miles of the towns’ roads will have received some type of treatment. Rooney said priorities of which roads to do next are always changing, but Phillips said Old Zoar Road will definitely be worked on next year.
The two officials drove out to work areas together on Wednesday afternoon, including to Greenwood Drive, where skim paving is being done.
“It seals the road and gives you a smooth riding surface,” Phillips said of the one inch layer of pavement. “It doesn’t take out big imperfections, but some.”
He said the treatment is most effective for a road without a lot of traffic, giving it another six or seven years before more extensive work needs to be done.
Rooney said temporary applications like skim paving and microsurfacing are done to ensure roads are safe for drivers with better ride-ability until the drainage can be replaced and a thicker layer of pavement can be applied.
One treatment the town uses is called Indus hima microsurfacing, which Phillips said is put down very thin. It is a cold application that does not have to be rolled.
“It’s done for preservation but can only be done on roads that fit the criteria, which is slight cracking but not multiple pot-holing,” he said.
Larger scale projects are called a “true and leveling course,” which may include a half-inch to an inch of asphalt depending on the condition of the road. A road receiving this treatment can last for up to 20 years, according to Phillips.
One of those projects includes Bob White Terrance, where a town crew had replaced the drainage and Cocchiola Paving Inc., a contractor based in Watertown, is now doing the paving.
All respectful comments with the commenter’s first and last name are welcome.
This is good to know! It’s helpful for residents to understand the complexity of road maintenance, which explains why the schedules and fixes are not always obvious. It’s also reassuring to know that Public Works is balancing short term priorities and long term plans.
They did really nice job on Moose Hill Road. Now drivers can hit 50 – 60 mph without worrying about hitting a pothole. With Route 111 traffic and many more lights we get to witness a race track on Moose Hill.