RANGELEY – Officials defended improvements to the Dodge Pond Road in the face of residents’ concerns at a recent selectmen’s meeting.

“Why such a massive undertaking?” resident Bill Booker asked.

He wanted to know why so much work was being done on a road used by only three year-round residents. “Who approved this? Who pays?” he asked.

Town Manager Perry Ellsworth explained that no federal money was involved in the $150,000 project, which was “part of the budgetary process started last year before I came here.”

Explaining why the construction was taking place, Road Foreman Everett Quimby said, “There are environmental concerns with spring washouts going into the pond. This project will improve the drainage, put proper ditching in place, straighten a dangerous curve and remove a hill. It’s a safety thing,” he said.

Residents voiced their hopes that the road will remain gravel and that trees lost or damaged will be replaced by the town.

Ellsworth said the paving decision has not yet been made.