WILTON — The town of Wilton is expecting to see a heavy amount of road work and paving this summer as Public Works Foreman John Masse presented the roads the department is anticipating paving and other road work on Tuesday, April 23, at the Wilton Select Board meeting.
The board voted unanimously and approved the projects to go to bid. Masse shared the following roads that will see work this summer.
• Temple Road
• Magrath Road
• Woodland Ave
• Voter Hill Road
• Seminole Drive
• McCrillis Corner Road [from Route 2 to Route 133]
• McCrillis Corner Road [from Route 133 to Route 156]
• Bubier Road
• Parsons Road
• Webster Road
• Adams Farm Road
• Pond Road
Work will include overlay work as well as chip sealing over certain stretches of road. Masse stated that he planned to send the projects out to bid following the meeting and expected work to begin as early as June.
Masse also added that residents should get 30 days’ notice before chip sealing work begins and anticipates chip seal work to be done by the end of August. He added that he plans to set the window for project bids for the end of September, stating that in previous years he had left projects out to bid as late as November but did not get any offers due to weather conditions.
“Last year, they wanted to stop paving in November,” he shared. “It was too cold, and so we canceled [those projects]. We don’t need to waste any more money than we need to.”
Masse also explained the large volume of road work was a result of the storms that hit during the summer last year. Many projects were postponed by the department as a result of the storms and washouts, forcing the department to reallocate resources towards restoration and repair.
Other departments have been affected by this change in schedule, with Water and Wastewater Superintendent Dalton Plante sharing at a previous meeting that projects that were expected to take place last year were postponed to next year to keep in schedule with the Public Works Department.
“The reason being is we tried to keep our major district maintenance schedule roughly one year behind the highway department,” Plante told the Select Board at that meeting for the water and sewer budget. Plante had reduced the budget line for district maintenance by $75,000 to account for work that will not be performed this year.
In other business, Masse also shared the department has money in the budget for a site improvement to the Transfer Station, which includes a new coat of paint. He asked the Select Board for color suggestions, to which Selectperson Keith Swett said that it should be a discussion between Masse and Town Manager Maria Greeley.
Greeley, in jest, suggested bright pink. Masse offered his suggestion, which was forest green, citing that it is a common color and easy to find. Selectperson Philip Hilton suggested the pink once more.
“If you want pink, we’ll do pink,” Masse stated.
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