Town Paves Way for Prudence Island Road Repairs

Narragansett Avenue on Prudence Island will be getting some much-needed attention a little sooner after the Portsmouth Town Council last week approved a measure to appropriate funds for engineering and permit work to eventually re-pave the road.

Acting Town Administrator James Lathrop said there is money remaining in the current fiscal year’s road funds budget and the amount would not exceed $100,000.

Lathrop said the appropriation would not cause any already-planned project carried over from the fall, such as the high school parking lot and fire station projects, to be affected.

There was some discussion whether to give the engineering and permit work to a contractor who did some preliminary engineering work for the town, but it was agreed that the town would put the project out to bid and use the existing work as backup materials for whoever wins the contract.

“For this sum of money, I’d prefer we put it out to bid,” said Town Council President Keith Hamilton.

Residents of the island have been asking for the town to repave the road for some time. Last year, residents during the Town Council’s annual trek for a meeting on the island said they have endured the terrible road condition and pleaded with officials to fund a repair project.

Then Town Council President James A. Seveney pledged to make an effort to allocate resources and “acknowledged that it has been underfunded for years and stated that we now have a program in place, and we are putting a million dollars into it each year,” according to the town’s official minutes of the meeting.