Community Corner

Summer Roadwork Focus Will be on Paving

Seaverns Bridge work in Amherst begins today, will force detours in Merrimack.

With $900,000 secured for paving work in town this summer, Merrimack Public Works Director Rick Seymour said the primary focus of the warmer months this year will turn to asphalt and paving partially or fully 15 roads in town.

“The big project this summer is going to be the paving,” Seymour said. “We're doing about $900,000 worth of paving, which is a pretty significant bump over last year.”

Bids for the paving work are due today at 2 p.m., at which time the sealed offers will be opened and read aloud. Seymour said once a firm is selected to do the work, a schedule will then be put together to complete the work. According to the outline stipulated in the bidding paperwork, the entire paving project should be done by Sept. 15.

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And for residents of Seaverns Bridge Road who travel the Amherst portion of the road make sure to build extra time into your travel plans for the next month or so. Starting today, work begins in Amherst to remove stumps from the road and paving, according to an update from Amherst DPW Director Bruce Berry on Amherst Patch. Berry said the project is starting a few days early and is expected to last 30 to 40 days. Berry is working with Merrimack on the project in terms of detours, which will use Bates and Peaslee Roads, according to his update.

Included on the list of paving projects this summer here in town are Bates Road, Paige Drive, Reeds Ferry Way, Marty Drive, Stonedge Way, Linden Way, May Drive, Lamson Drive, Westborn Street, Sands Terrace, Winchester Drive, Merrill Road, Mast Road, Lyons Road and the Reeds Ferry Elementary School parking lot.

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The parking lot money comes from the school district's warrant this year, $45,000 to be raised by taxes and $65,000 from capital reserve. The paving of Lyons Road, owned by the school district is also being handled by the school board, Seymour said.

According to Seymour, the paving projects this year include a combination of roads that simply need the edges repaired and a top coat and roads that need to be reclaimed – or dug up, filled and repaved.

Bates Road, Paige Drive, Reeds Ferry Way, Marty Drive, Mast Road and Lyons Road are all in need of reclamation, according to the bid instructions on the Finance Department page on the town's website.

Seymour was grateful to the town for approving the money for paving and to Town Manager Eileen Cabanel who he said recommended the $900,000 budget line for paving to the Town Council, who in turn supported her recommendation.

“The more we keep up on the roads, the easier it is to do repairs,” Seymour said, explaining that having to do a reclaim is necessary when roads are let go for too long, which costs two to three times more than a shim repair and topcoat. “It's money in the bank the more paving we do. The less reclaims, the better off we are.”

Seymour said there will be a couple of small drainage projects done while the weather is nice, two of which are being finished up now on Marty and Lamson drives. And work will continue toward replacing the large metal culverts on Amherst and Wire roads, over Baboosic Brook, with larger concrete box culverts.

Both projects are moving forward he said, with easements obtained from neighbors and hopefully final design work coming soon. Both culverts, which have bridges traveling over them, are made of corrugated metal that is starting to break down, and if left for too long could spell trouble for the bridges. Seymour said the box culverts are each designed to handle the hundred year storm, which should help prevent water from spilling over the roadways in the case of heavy, flooding rains that Merrimack has experienced several times in the last decade.

Other than that, Seymour said the Turkey Hill Road bridge work is being buttoned up right now and stands at 99 percent done. The site is being cleaned up and Weston Park is being restored to as close to its original state as it can be. The popular park is expected to re-open to the public this summer, Seymour said.


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