HARTFORD — The five-member Road Committee on Tuesday announced plans to complete four projects before winter.
Member Barry Langer shared a plan developed by Road Commissioner Jeremy Johnson to finish replanking the Nezinscot River Bridge on Labrador Pond Road between Hartford and Sumner; ditch Church Street, Labrador Pond Road, Gurney Hill and Sam Annie roads; patch Pine Shore Road; and grade all dirt roads.
Chairman Harley Swanson and Langer passed out material they received earlier in the day at a seminar presented by the Maine Department of Transportation’s Local Road Center. The class covered construction and maintenance of gravel roads.
The committee, which also includes Dan Maddox, Neil Hanley and Leslie Boness, is committed to developing one-year and five-year plans for road maintenance, and will consider a 10-year plan, which is called for in the town Comprehensive Plan.
To help develop the long-range plans, the committee members have familiarized themselves with the Road Surface Management System developed by the Local Road Center. This system provides standardized techniques for rating the condition of roads and provides software that recommends the relative priority for maintenance on each road in town based on its condition, traffic count and importance.
Members will decide at their next meeting whether to conduct a road survey this year or wait until spring. To rate the roads, they must inspect each and consider the severity and extent of defects.
The committee has 2009 traffic count data on seven town roads and will seek information on the rest.
The next major project is to completely rebuild Gurney Hill Road from Route 219 past the sand/salt shed. The plan is to ditch it, put down a base this fall, let truck traffic compact it this winter and regrade and pave it in the spring.
The committee will request that selectmen purchase a set of screens, a shaker and a digital scale to test road materials purchased by the town. Swanson has experience in testing road materials and will check random samples to assure they meet town specifications.
The next Road Committee meeting will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 10.
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