Politics & Government

Five-Year Road Plan Recommended

The town needs to look further at the roads toward refining the list.

Grafton's DPW advisory committee is recommending Grafton spend $2 million on road maintenance annually for five years.

Spending $2 million annually would result in a "lower overall required cost" in the long run, consultant Lance Baden of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin told selectmen Tuesday night.

However, the $2 million draft plan is "a computer-generated plan, given factors only that are in the computers," Baden said. The town would need to "account for factors that only people that are local to the town really know," he said.

Grafton spends about $500,000 in state Chapter 90 highway aid on road maintenance, Baden said.

The study looked at both the $2 million and $500,000 scenarios, as well as spending $1 million annually during the five-year plan.

Spending $500,000 annually would see a "continual slow decline" in road conditions, Baden said.

The average pavement condition in Grafton is "fair," representing "a small slip in condition" since 2008, he said.

There are "only 30 percent of your miles that are in the worst condition," he said.

Bringing "every road up to a good, serviceable condition" would cost $16,476,075, Baden said.

Selectman John Carlson said that "I feel we've paved very good roads because they've had a high index."

"We've dumped a lot of money into Worcester Street. Yet, there are a lot of roads in this town that are impassible; it's a five-mile-an-hour road," he said.

DPW Advisory Committee Chairman Dan Pogorzelski said the list will be "constantly evolving."

"Even though we have a list of roads, out to five years, it's going to change," he said.

Selectman Brook Padgett said that the town must determine which roads to do, and how to fund those projects.


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