ROXBURY — By year’s end, all 6.45 miles of town roads will have been rebuilt and repaved, Selectman Tim Derouche said at Tuesday night’s meeting.

“If everything goes according to plan,” board Chairman John Sutton said.

At town meeting on March 3, voters approved a seven-year loan of up to $800,000 to complete Roxbury’s Road Improvement Project. They also approved raising $72,500 for roads.

This will be the last phase of a four-phase project costing an estimated $2,068,250 that began in 2012, Derouche said after Tuesday’s road planning and selectmen meetings.

“We’re expecting the entire town roads project to be about $321,000 per mile at 6.45 total miles,” Derouche said. “And we wouldn’t be doing them if it wasn’t for (the Record Hill Wind Farm) up on the hill there.”

He said the wind farm is Roxbury’s largest taxpayer, followed by Central Maine Power and Wagner Land Management.

The addition of the wind farm to the tax rolls has given residents a 50 to 60 percent reduction in property taxes, Derouche and Sutton said. The town has a population of 369, according to the 2010 Census.

“We’ve done (the roads project) the first three years, because the (RSU 10) school budget kicks in next year and it’s going to keep our taxes somewhat level,” Derouche said.

“That’s why we’re doing a three-year roads project,” Sutton said. “We’ll have this roads project finished, and then the school budget increase will kick in and we won’t be asking for money for the roads. We would not be doing the roads without the wind farm.”

“Not that they’re paying for it, but they’re paying their fair share and we’re able to maintain these levels (of property tax reduction for residents),” Derouche said.

Main Street will be reconstructed this year.

“We are doing 9,000 feet of Main Street as of right now for $673,696, and the jobs we’re doing are grinding every road, replacing every culvert and repaving the entire road,” he said. That includes, ditching, tree removal and drainage work.

The 9,149-foot stretch is from the bridge on Main Street to the town line with Byron.

There are sections of it that are very rough, Derouche said. “We’re replacing every metal culvert (with plastic pipe), because the culverts are all coming to the end of their life.”

“The stream crossings are all going to be upgraded for size,” Sutton said.

Derouche said they’re resizing the stream-crossing culverts to eliminate past erosion problems while additionally trying to create better fish passage. These culverts are all on streams that feed into Roxbury Pond. Some of the culvert resizings already have been engineered by an engineering firm, Derouche said.

Altogether, their contractor, Swasey Excavation of Andover, will be installing 1,587 feet of plastic culverts, he said.

Sutton announced during the selectmen’s meeting that Roxbury has been approved by the Maine Municipal Bond Bank for a seven-year, $800,000 loan.

“I think we have better planning this year than we had the first year,” Derouche said. “We’ve completed 4.12 miles, so we’re doing 2.23 miles this year.”

Derouche and Sutton said the roads that were redone are holding up well.

“Horseshoe Valley Road was the first test,” Derouche said. “This year, there have been a couple of cracks, but everything looks pretty good, so far. Until the snow goes, we can’t tell about all the ditching and culverts.”

Horseshoe Valley Road is 2.4 miles.

Derouche said Swasey will do all the excavation and reconstruction work, but selectmen haven’t decided yet if they will remain with Bruce A. Manzer Inc. of Anson for paving.

“We’re going to investigate contractors,” Sutton said.

Also included in the last phase of roadwork are Roxbury village streets, which are roughly half a mile.

“Everything’s being reclaimed, all new culverts and drainage, everything, for $131,897,” Derouche said.

With maintenance, the new roads are expected to last for 20 years, he said. Culverts have a 30-year life span barring any incidents, he said.

“The only other part of the project is paving the (Town Hall) parking lot and a cemetery loop road we’re going to put in at Pine View Cemetery,” Derouche said.

Those two projects are expected to cost $35,900.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link