No Happy Trails in Mansfield

In the late 1800's, Mansfield's first selectmen spent most of their time on roads, and it looks like time is going backwards.

DPW head Lee Azinhiera and highway operations manager Mark Cook told the board Wednesday the town is due for millions in complete reclamation and repair of streets, both main thoroughfares and subdivision roads that have been waiting for attention for years.

"The roads in Mansfield are rapidly deteriorating," Azinheira said. "This winter has added two to three years (to the age of the roadways) - and we haven't seen all the effects yet. It's really bad."

He said putting off needed repairs has cost the roads dearly as well as the residents who use them.

"We have been doing the busy roads, but we have been putting aside roads that could have done with an overlay. Now, we may have to do total reclamation.... The backlog from 2003 to 2009 is huge. The downward slope is greater than was expected."

Azinheira had compiled a list that summarized the backlog in cost of work due the 118 miles of roadways in town, estimating a whopping total of $10,821,500, more than double the backlog in 2003.

"That's the problem with not doing an overlay at the right time," he said. "We've been talking about it for four to five years - it's here. It's happened. Something more has to be done or it will continue to accelerate."

The largest project done last year was West Street, with the remainder of the landscaping for that project, as well as crack sealing of potholed Route 106, scheduled for spring and already in the budget. Reservoir Street is also on the schedule for final paving, and a number of subdivision roads are on the list that was submitted to the town manager last summer.

With a projected increase of 29-percent in Chapter 90 money, which are dedicated to municipal road maintenance, the town would receive $755,000. That amount wouldn't make more than a small dent in the work that needs to be done.

The highway department's revised list of suffering roads now includes Maple Street, East Street from North Street to the town line, Bird Road, the end of Stearns Avenue, Otis Street, Oakleaf Drive, Williams Street, Forbes Boulevard, Norfolk Street, and the entire subdivision of Lantern Lane and Coach Road off Route 106, one of the town's oldest true subdivisions built in the 1960's.

Most of these new additions to the list will now require a complete reconstruction to at least part of the road, a costly process that requires removal of part or all of the existing asphalt.

Selectman Jess Aptowitz suggested the list could be even larger. He said the town needs a road program similar to the current ambulance program, where repairs are planned and funded according to a set schedule.

Mansfield town manager Bill Ross said debt the town has been paying for school issues is now coming off the budget, and said he has been discussing the possibility of a road bond with the finance committee. "It makes sense to put together a program, to avoid having the (Proposition 2 1/2) levy capacity eaten up in other costs," he said. Ross added the town could have two borrowings, and do the program funding over several years.

"It makes a lot of sense, especially after this winter, he said."

Selectman George Dentino said the thought of bonding scared him, but agreed the Chapter 90 money would not be a significant help. He added, "I think we have an override coming at us."

Dentino said the entire $450,000 now in the capital improvements budget could be entirely devoted to road repair and not make a dent in the current needs.

"I don't want to bond either, but you can't keep talking about it," said Aptowitz, who noted badly needed capital money has been repeatedly taken for salaries and benefits in the last five years.

"If we don't so something fast we may be like the Midwest and go to gravel roads," said board chairman Kevin Moran.

"We have other issues, but this is one everybody sees and utilizes," said Ross. "If we can't get around we really have a problem. The only option I see is borrowing. I'm not a big fan, but that's what we need."

Ross said he and the finance committee will work up several different funding options for the road program and the upcoming building maintenance program that will be aired before the board in the next several weeks.