When it comes to repairing our roads, not only is better asphalt needed, the city needs to also review how it administers its “shave-and-pave” program.
The current program can be compared to putting a Band aid on a bullet hole, and is, quiet frankly, a waist of money.
There are several examples to demonstrate the need for this change.
One that comes to mind is the RR 35 (Elm Street) off-ramp to access the Lasalle extension. Anyone traveling that ramp knows it is in terrible shape.
Recently, for some inexplicable reason, the city resurfaced only parts of the ramp and decided to skip smaller sections equally in need of replacement.
Resurfacing all four ramps, which is required, while men and equipment were there would have been the smart approach, and doing so would have eliminated the need to go back. Sure this approach eats away at your overall budget, but it prevents returning, demonstrates real progress and it provides a replacement date.
The same applies to how we deal with our larger heavily traveled roadways.
Take, for example, RR 35. Like MR 80, this road is heavily traveled. Rather than spot shave and pave indiscriminately bad section after to bad section, why not budget resurfacing the entire road over a four-or five-year period?
The current system does nothing but waist the money and simply prolongs the need to address the underlying issue that the road needs to be completely resurfaced.
The same can be said for the smaller streets we all use, like Frood Road between Elm and College. This street is a cow path and could easily be resurfaced at a minimal cost.
Unfortunately, the same mentality exists to replace curbs and sidewalks. How can anyone justify intermittently saving small sections of curb and sidewalks as a good idea? The extra time the contractor must spend to work around these obstacles is probably more costly than the price to replace the entire section. Plus, eliminating mixing old with new also provides a more accurate end of life timeline for replacement.
If we’re going to spend money and energy to repair our crumbling roads, progress must be made. The current system simply is a Band-aid approach and it must stop. Rather than spread the budget thinly throughout all wards, focus our efforts on the major roads we all use in the core of the city first, then use the same approach on the major roads in each ward.
Piecemealing road work is the wrong approach and obviously is not working. Not only do we need to start using better products, we need to change the system we use to implement and administer the program.
Let’s hope someone is listening, because if not, we’ll never get to where we need to be anytime soon.
Phil D’Aoust
Chelmsford