10-Year Road Plan Includes No Funds for Smaller Roads

Salem roads under 500 feet long wouldn't be reconstructed and repaved under a draft version of the town's 10-year road plan.

The draft has not been officially adopted, but if it is, it would include no funds for reconstructing and repaving those smaller, neighborhood roads. Instead, it would spend the money on larger road projects that affect more people. There would still be money for maintenance on those smaller roads.

Town Engineer Bob Puff and Selectman Michael Lyons updated the Board of Selectmen on the 10-year road program on Monday night.

Selectman Stephen Campbell expressed concern that keeping all of the smaller roads off the 10-year road plan could lead to citizen's petitions being filed. He suggested funding at least one smaller road reconstruction project per year.

"I can see where you might take them as a class and only do some every year. I can see where you wouldn't want to spend all of one year's money on that type of road," Campbell said. "But to have a rule like that just means these people are coming to us and complaining."

Puff said the 500 feet or less was a fairly arbitrary cutoff point, and it could still be changed.

"Bear in mind that this is a draft," he said. "If the board wants to change it, we'll adjust the plan accordingly."

Part of the rationale behind the decision to keep smaller roads out of the plan was that if any of those smaller roads got out of hand, they could be dealt with out of the Public Works Department's maintenance budget or the town's roadways capital reserve.

"When we looked at what it was going to cost to reconstruct those small roads versus what else we needed to get to in terms of benefit to the entire community, it made it somewhat onerous," Lyons said. "If it gets bad, it can be addressed in the operating budget."

"I would suggest at least one of the 500 feet or less streets get done each year, just to give people some hope," Campbell said. "When people hear you say it's not in the 10-year program... that's when you get citizens petitions."

In recent years, Puff said road reconstruction and paving work has come in under budget. So he suggested taking any leftover money and using that to pave some of the smaller streets not included in the plan.

In the end, that's the route the board opted to go forward with.

"This year, if bids come in light, we'll include a short road," Chairman Everett McBride said.

Puff said it should be fairly easy to prioritize which smaller roads need to be addressed first.