Hopkinton Highway Work Starts This Month

The Hopkinton Highway Department has a busy schedule of road fixes that will begin as soon as school is out later this month. The last day of school (scroll down calendar of events at top right) is Tuesday, June 21. 

Hopkinton Highway Manager Mike Mansir, in a note posted on the town website, said the aim of the Pavement Management Plan is to finish by the time school starts up again on Tuesday, Aug. 30. (Labor Day is Sept. 5.)

But, he says in the note, there are inevitable weather delays and mechanical breakdowns. And contractor scheduling - getting the right work done by the right people in the right order - is never perfect.

The Highway Department will post construction dates and updates for each project and try to warn motorists and others who’ll be affected.

Here Mansir explains the types of work the Highway Department will be doing or managing in town this summer:

Cracksealing is the black material you see sprayed in the cracks in the road.

Mill and overlay is a process in which a machine grinds off a predetermined thickness of existing pavement and then the same thickness is reapplied with new asphalt.

Double chip seal is a process that involves applying hot liquid emulsion and stone to the existing road, then rolled.

Reclaiming is a process in which a machine grinds up the entire road all the way down to the gravel then the proper amount of new asphalt is applied.

The final line on the Pavement Management schedule lists sewer replacement/reclaim/sidewalks on Elm Street from Wood Street to High Street (Discontinued).

Mansir explains, "High Street is a road that was blocked off ('Discontinued') near the end of Elm Street at Lumber Street Ext.
"The sewer pipe replacement work will start at the Wood Street-end of Elm Street then go as far as the 'Old High Street' which is on the left side of Elm just before you get to Lumber Street Ext.," Mansir said.
When reading the schedule of streets to be worked on (link here again) there are four columns, the first is the street to be worked on, the second and third are cross streets or locations where the work stops and starts, and the final column is the type of work.
Dates and times for street-work will be posted as soon as the information is available.