Winter Weather Has Been Hard
On Paved Roads in Strafford
By John Freitag

There is general agreement that the paved roads in Strafford are in worse shape than people can ever remember.

Frost heaves and potholes started appearing early this year and have gotten progressively worse. The stretch from the upper village to Tunbridge is arguably the worst with frost heaves more like crevasses. It is so bad that at Town Meeting, the suggestion to turn this part of the Justin Morrill Highway back to dirt had many nodding heads in agreement.

Two former selectboard members have led the way with a call for a overall plan for addressing the deteriorating state of the paved roads in Strafford. Last month at a hearing on renewing the Town Plan, John Freitag proposed the addition to the town plan of "a management plan for the town’s paved roads addressing both the immediate and long term requirements."

Responding to that suggestion, planning commission chair Steve Campbell said that this would be a "major philosophical change" that would need more study.

In March, Rod Maclay also called for an overall study of the town’s paved roads at both the Pre-Town and Town Meeting. Maclay, a former selectboard chair and state transportation employee, laid out all the paved roads in town needing work and the potential costs of improvement which, according to his calculations, could total over a million dollars. Maclay admitted that boards in the past have put off work for too long in an attempt to keep taxes down.

The Strafford Selectboard clearly heard the message and, at its March 6 meeting, appointed an ad hoc highway committee consisting of Rod Maclay, Eric Thorp, and Dick Josler. At that meeting, it was also suggested that a capital infrastructure fund allocation be placed on the warning for next year’s Town Meeting.

Unfortunately, the need for major work on the town’s paved roads coincides with soaring prices for fuel, pavement and everything associated with petroleum. The town is also just beginning to pay for a 20-year bond on the new town garage and is coming off a very expensive year for taking care of winter roads. The new committee will have its work cut out as it attempts to balance needs with costs in a town with no sand and gravel pit and no state-maintained highways. To deal with problems in the short term, Doug Cook has been hired on an as-needed basis to supplement the four-man road crew as a sub-contractor to fill in the numerous potholes.

The town garage project is heading into its third year with hopes of completing the project this year. Still to be done are paving around the new garage, conversion of the old town garage site into a "Park and Ride" spot, and making the old town sand pit area safe. The new garage has had ongoing problems with dripping from the roof and there have been a number of consultations with the contractor, All Seasons, to determine the cause and correct the problem.

The new garage has had neighbors objecting to the loud banging early in the morning as the crew breaks up frozen sand on a metal screen. Due to limitations now imposed on salting sand, the selectboard has determined there is no way to prevent the sand from freezing and the crew needs to get started by 3 a.m. to clear and sand roads prior to bus runs and traffic heading to work.  

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