CANTON – The cost of clearing winter roads went from more than $2 million in 2007 to more than $4 million this winter in Region 3 of Western Maine, a state highway official told municipal officers Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the state’s road clearing costs in Oxford County went from $528,000 last year to well over $1 million dollars, said Donald Hutchins, superintendent of operations for the Maine Department of Transportation.

The Oxford County Municipal Officers Association heard a report Thursday night on conditions of roads and the impact the severe winter has had on MDOT’s budget from Hutchins and Rick Jeselskis, transportation operations manager.

Buckfield Town Manager Glen Holmes said his town’s costs were up 47 percent. Canton’s was up 35 percent.

Since there is insufficient funding available to pay for reconstruction, Hutchins said the state plans to spent $40,000 a mile for a 3/4 inch surface on Route 140 from Jay to Bims garage at Route 219, and continue in East Sumner to Buckfield, a distance of about 20 miles. To totally rebuild the road would cost more than $1 million per mile.

The coating Hutchins is to keep the roads passable until funds are available to rebuild them, he said.

Hutchins said there were 1,600 miles of poor roads in Maine and little funding to fix them. He referred to the roads as “basket cases.”

Canton road foreman Craig Gammon said it wasn’t right to do a job that wasn’t going to last. But with 1,600 miles of bad roads, the state really has no choice, Hutchins said, the state has to keep the roads passable.

Hutchins presented a slide show on snow and ice control. He said the MDOT is doing away with using calcium chloride and switching to magnesium chloride instead. It is more environmentally friendly and inhibits rust.

Hutchins explained a graph showing the results of using salt and sand since 1990. The use of sand has dramatically fallen but the use of salt has remained fairly constant. Hutchins showed that it is cost efficient to use more salt and less sand because of the cleanup of sand from the ditches and roads. He explained how brine from the salt kept the roads cleaner.

He also told the group that towns should call if they are in a bind and need help such as borrowing equipment or salt. MDOT will also push back the snow to help the town plows. He said there might be a possibility of joint purchasing.