A plan to repair and maintain McComb streets is being created by the city’s public works director after a five year lapse in repairs, Mayor Whitney Rawlings said.
“I have asked my public works director to give the city a 10-year plan for the overlay of the streets,” Rawlings said.
Public Works Director Philip Russell is in charge of gathering the data needed to formulate a plan for the streets, which he said haven’t been extensively worked on in more than five years.
“They had a plan, but that plan came to an end and lay dormant for five years,” he said.
A few streets were recently worked on after the city budgeted some $180,000 this year for repairs. That, however, was only enough for select pieces of road.
“People got a taste of that and now they want more,” Russell said.
A team is surveying the streets and rating them based on condition. Russell will take that data and update a street repair list made more than five years ago.
The updated list will provide Russell with an idea of what streets need to be done first.
Traffic flow will be a key factor in determining the priority of work, he said, adding that heavily traveled streets will get repaired first, even if some aren’t as badly damaged as less traveled roads.
The plan will give the mayor and board of selectmen an idea of how much money is needed to get the project going, although city officials have no idea how much that will be, he said.
Officials anticipate some money in the 2012-13 budget will go to street repairs, but they acknowledge it won’t be nearly enough to repair all streets.
Extra costs may come from having to mill, or grind, the streets down to the roadbed, Russell said.
“When you don’t do the roads for five years, you get this,” he said. “A good number of the streets need to be milled — not a majority, but a good number.”
Despite the possibility of extra costs, Rawlings said he does not foresee a bond issue to help pay for the work.
“What this is all about is showing the board a way forward,” he said.
City officials said a decade-long repair plan is ideal because 10 years is thought to be the life of an overlay, Rawlings said.
When the 10 years is up, the process will start over again from the first street, he said.
The completed plan will be presented and discussed at length as the city board moves into budget talks this month.
