GREENWOOD — At a special select board meeting on Sep.. 12, Ron Simbari of All States Construction, Inc. came to discuss one mile of Greenwood Rd that is breaking down. Simbari’s crew had laid the roadway in August.

The stretch of roadway under discussion starts before Martin Rd. and ends at the top of Falls Hill Rd.

Select Board Chair Amy Chapman, board members Norman Milliard, and Bob Oickle sat at the head table with Town Manager Kim Sparks and Highway Foreman Richie Diaz in the audience.

Simbari said what is currently on the road is a cold mix asphalt which consists of a sand product and stone material that is mixed with an emulsion-based asphalt. He said there is more flexibility in the material they used versus using a hot mix asphalt.

The cold mix, Simbari said, is better for lower volume roads that have less than marginal foundations. It needs around 30-45 days to cure. During the curing period it is subject to displacement from heavy loads, which he believes is at issue. Rain may have been a cause of the disrepair, too, he said.

“Right, wrong or indifferent, Either we were not aware of the amount of truck traffic on that lower section… I’m not here to point fingers, I’m just here to fix it. I look at the use on Google maps. They are hauling a lot of wood especially on that lower mile,” said Simbari.

They were logging and carrying gravel, agreed Diaz

“Those are hundred thousand pound loads, easily,” said Simbari, of the trucks he saw in the area in need of repair. “The fatigue has happened from those loads.”

“How much was the bill for this?” he asked.

“Just shy of $800, 000” said Sparks.

“We work on very lean margins. Just to repair that one mile will cost us $150,000,” said Simbari.

He recommended they add gravel shoulders, using All State Construction’s shoulder machine. The shoulder will create confinement, he said.

“We were contracted to give you something you and your townspeople can drive on. I’ll swallow the cost to do whatever we need to do. I am going to put the two inches of hot mix on your road. It will cost [us] $135,000.”

Shoulder work was slated to begin the next day, Sep. 13.  Simbari promised to grind and cap it with hot mix before Oct. 15 and possibly as early as late Sep.

The select board agreed the town will pay $31, 000 for the grinding. All States will pay for the two inches of hot mix, with eight inches of base, and a two-foot shoulder.

The $31,000 from the town will come out of the highway budget and some from the remaining $10,000 in the paving budget, said Chapman.

With around 800 taxpayers, said Chapman, “We only have enough money to do the worst of the worst [roadways]”

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