JAY — It will cost nearly $7.9 million to fix the town’s roads and sewer lines and to provide temporary access over some roads heavily damaged in the June 29 flash flooding, Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said Thursday.
The figure does not include any paving, she said.
It is just to get the roads back to where the streets were before the storm.
The town submitted all of the information to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday afternoon. LaFreniere is hoping it will be enough to get a federal Presidential Disaster Declaration declared by President Joe Biden.
“We had Main-Land (Development Consultants of Livermore Falls) give us estimates for the three complete road washouts on Macomber Hill, Begin and Hutchinson roads,” she wrote in an email to the Select Board. “These will ultimately be designed, permitted and put out to bid.”
The cost estimates for putting the three roads back the way they were and additional costs estimated for temporary bridge structures including abutments, earthwork, engineering and other services, for the roads combined cost about $4 million, she said.
A large pipe is exposed June 30 on Soules Hill Road in Jay after the road was heavily damaged the day before during heavy rain and flooding. The cost to fix Jay’s roads, sewer lines and provide temporary access over is estimated to cost nearly $7.9 million, town officials say. Town of Jay photo
“We have to figure out temporary access before winter for school buses, plow trucks and emergency vehicles,” LaFreniere said.
Paving for all roads damaged will be an additional cost.
The cost for the Canton Mountain Road repairs, including pipe, is just about $245,000, she said.
The Soules Hill Road repairs, including pipe, cost about $130,000.
The estimate for the repair of the sewer line on state Route 4 from Summit Street down to the power lines is over $2 million. There is an additional $30,000 plus sewer work needed on the Whistle Stop Trail.
The nearly $7.9 million figure includes the work that has already been done by the Public Works Department and the Fire Rescue Department. It also includes estimated work still needed to be done in-house by the town’s crew as well as materials, paving, engineering and repair of the Fire Rescue Station in North Jay.
The split of the expenses, if the disaster declaration is declared, with be 75% federal government, 15% state government and 10% by the town. The town can claim in-kind work, administration costs, donations and other items as part of its share of expenses.
The preliminary damages in Jay for just its roads and sewer lines were estimated at nearly $4 million.
In addition, the preliminary damage estimate for the Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands’ Whistle Stop Trail was $500,000 but contractors estimate it will cost $860,000 to fix, said Brian Bronson, supervisor of the state’s Off Road Recreational Vehicle Program.
A section of the Whistle Stop Trail, a multiuse rail-trail owned by the state is shut down from U.S. Route 2/state Route 4 in Dryden village in Wilton to Jay Plaza in Jay. One of the washouts on the trail in Jay is about 50 feet deep.
“Fingers crossed we get FEMA help because without it we have no way to repair the trail,” Bronson said.
The trail is about 14 miles and runs from Jay to West Farmington. It is a popular trail for ATVers, snowmobilers, runners, walkers and other recreational sports enthusiasts.
The figures from Jay’s local roads and sewer line, and the rail trail, do not include the Maine Department of Transportation’s state roads. A preliminary estimate of damage for state roads in Jay and Wilton is $1.8 million. A section of state Route 133 is still closed to through traffic.
Franklin County overall had a preliminary estimate of damage about $4.6 million, which includes the rail trail. Chesterville reported $19,094.79 of that and Wilton reported $9,000 in damages.
Franklin County’s initial damage estimates exceed its $130,000 threshold and the state’s $2.41 million threshold to qualify for disaster funding.
In an email to selectpersons, LaFreniere wrote, “I can honestly tell you that, beside everything related to the mill that we have been through the over the past 10 years, this has been the most challenging. I thank God that we have the (Department) Heads and employees that we do who are so dedicated to their jobs and this community. I know you have heard me say that we are very lucky before but I feel it even more now. The amount of work that has been done in the past four weeks is amazing.”
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