First Selectman Ken Kellogg says a paving project on Hammertown Road should take three weeks to complete, depending on the weather.
“The road will not be closed,” he said, adding there will be flaggers with alternating traffic passing through one lane. “We’ll do our best to keep the traffic moving. Drivers should expect some delays.”
On Wednesday morning, a crew from The Gorman Group, a private contractor from Albany, N.Y., had equipment and payloaders lined up like a train to do a process called “cold in place.”
The foreman said his crew will mill the asphalt two-to-four inches deep, add emulsion to the material and lay it back down in a recycling process.
In a typical milling and paving job, he said, “you tear up the asphalt and truck it away. Then you truck back the pavement.” He said cold in place is more efficient than that and at half the cost.
Jim Robinson, the town’s highway supervisor, said Monroe’s paving season usually lasts sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, depending on weather conditions.
Robinson said the town’s road projects got off to a slow start this year.
“The rain earlier in the season has really put a cramp on our style,” he said. “It slowed down our work and it caused undergrowth to spring up. The weather was a detriment this year.”
