Paving Program Aims to Make Process Smoother

Everybody wants their road repaved, but it seems there's just not enough money to do it.

The town is examining a tool that could streamline the road paving process, while most likely saving money in the long run and more immediately addressing the most dire needs.

It's called Pavement Management System, a company that analyzes each street then creates a document that continually keeps records and forecasts the livelihood of the town's roadways.

The system provides a snapshot in time of each road's current condition, recommends repairs and outlines the costs associated, said Highway Department Superintendent Steve Wlodkowski. The town could then have a realistic funding plan with a tangable document explaining the costs.

Wlodkowski said it would be "an extremely useful tool" that could make his department operate far more efficiently.

"Right now we don't have the manpower to do it, so it would be very helpful," Wlodkowski said. "What happens is the system can catch some of the roads in time to recommend maintenance that will make a road last another five or six years, then it will definitely save money."

The program costs $55,000 to implement.

Councilor John Barry took issue with the idea during a council meeting Monday, calling the program an unnecessary expense for something the town is capable of doing internally.

"I believe this is more of an outside consultant expense that's a waste of taxpayers' money," Barry said. "People want their roads done, and we don't have any money - people have been more than understanding about that. We have a very good system in place, I have faith that our town staff can handle it themselves."

Councilor Peter Romano, who led the charge in support of the program, said the $55,000 would easily pay for itself over a short amount of time, as well as solve the common bickering among staff and residents over the prioritization of roads being paved.

"My father used to tell me if you don't have the right tools, don't do the job, and in this day in age to operate without the right tools is unacceptable," Romano said. "This way there will be a concrete, living document that makes it clear what roads should be worked on, how much it costs, so there won't be any mysteries anymore."

Wlodkowski admitted that although he never gives preferential treatment to which roads get paved, he continually received phone calls from residents wondering why some roads are getting paved before their own.

"The problem is people see their road not getting done and they've lived there for 30 years - it's hard to quantify to those people that there's only 15 people living on their street and these main roads see more traffic, and so on. This explains all that."

The town council voted to send the request to the Board of Finance for a follow up vote.