Winter's bumpy ride means potholes aplenty on local roads
Reports of potholes come in daily to New London City Hall, and when Public Works Director Tim Hanser drives around the city, he notices the ride is a rough and bumpy one.
Potholes are common this time of year, but local officials say this winter's combination of record cold and heavy snowfall has caused another problem.
"The big thing we're seeing is a lot a of frost heaves," Hanser said. "That's a big concern, particularly on roads that are in generally good condition - what is the impact on those roads in terms of their long-term integrity?"
Waterford First Selectman Daniel Steward said frost heaves are the biggest issue his town is facing, too. He has observed problems on Douglas Lane, Dayton Road and Lamphere Road. Residents, he said, have been calling to complain about whatever bad road they had most recently driven.
"This has been an extraordinary year, and I think that's really what this all comes down to," he said. "We have not seen anything like this."
The Waterford Board of Selectman on Tuesday approved $1.3 million from the 2014-15 budget to make road fixes. The appropriation still requires votes from the Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting.
In Stonington, where a sign warns drivers entering the Town Hall parking lot to be aware of frost heaves, First Selectman George Crouse, a lifelong resident, said the situation is "as bad as I've ever seen." Many roads in town have holes and heaves, which are worsening.
East Lyme Public Works Director Joe Bragaw said rising temperatures and thawing conditions over the next several weeks will create the perfect storm for potholes.
"The next few weeks are ideal pothole-brewing weather," he said.
Potholes have caused damage to the vehicles of half of all American drivers, and poor road conditions cost drivers and insurers an average of roughly $5.4 billion each year, according to a report released last year by the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.
"The potholes are as bad as, if not worse than, last year," Hanser said. "It has been just as cold this year, and we've got more than twice as much snow."
Hanser said he has seen or heard reports of frost heaves on some roads that were paved as recently as last year. Those, he said, have a better likelihood of disappearing and returning almost to normal because the new pavement retains some elasticity. Older roads, though, are far more prone to heaving and cracking, he said.
"We're going to have to assess them all. In some cases, they will settle themselves down, and we'll end up with a road surface that is acceptable," Hanser said. "If they're a bigger problem, we will have to figure out other solutions on a case-by-case basis."
Once the weather allows it, New London DPW activates a roving two-man crew focused on filling in potholes on city roads, Hanser said. That crew has been out a few times already, he said.
And once spring breaks for good, all eight DPW highway division employees become busy. Hanser said he usually assigns one worker to operate a street sweeper, two to man the vacuum truck that clears storm drains and two employees to fix broken street signs and repaint crosswalks or stop lines. Adding a two-man pothole crew leaves just one employee available for whatever other work needs to be done.
"That's where it is a challenge. We're already having talks about how we can move assets around from other divisions, but that has ramifications for the other divisions, too," Hanser said. "We're always in this kind of Catch-22 - we can fix one thing but have to let something else go more than we'd like to."
He said DPW might have to call upon parks division workers to help out with city roads this spring, though that could delay the openings of fields and hamper grass-cutting plans.
Looking for funds
Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel said the town was dipping into Public Works funds intended for spring projects to attend to parts of roadway most critically in need of repair.
He said issues near the entrance of the town's Senior Center and one particularly bad frost heave on Black Ash Road jumped out in his mind as significant problems. He said, however, that damage - especially frost heaves, which he noted can turn into potholes - is present throughout town roads.
"You drive down the road, and it's kind of like you're riding on a roller coaster," he said.
Norwich Public Works Director Barry Ellison said it's still difficult to assess the extent of winter road damage, because his crews haven't seen many city side streets "from curb to curb" since mid-January.
Damage this winter from frost heaves and potholes is worse than usual, Ellison said, with long, deep cracks in some spots that will worsen as temperatures rise and drop in the coming weeks. Norwich has a hot asphalt machine to make quick repairs of bad potholes and has been using the machine extensively in recent weeks.
"We have crews out every day doing hot patches," Ellison said. "We have a machine to keep asphalt hot for patches. It does much better than a cold patch."
The Sherman Street bridge is especially bad. The city plans a major project to replace the bridge over the Yantic River and its crumbling railings and sidewalks and is awaiting state permits. Palmer Street on the East Side also is showing winter damage, Ellison said.
The city's snow removal budget went $140,000 over budget before this week - with three more snowstorms - Acting City Manager John Bilda said Monday. Ellison said that is the same budget that handles road repairs, so those costs too will rise.
"We will continue to do both," Ellison said, "and come spring, we'll see if we can cut back on some other work."
Norwich Public Utilities officials said the utility's infrastructure beneath the roadways has held up fairly well this winter. NPU responded to three water main breaks, on Great Plains Road Feb. 19, Old Salem Road Jan. 25 and Pembroke Street Jan. 19.
In addition, the department had one frozen water main - a very unusual incident, spokesman Chris Riley said - on Highland Street Feb. 27 that required digging up a 5-by-12-foot section of the street. The repair took a full day.
Some town officials said local roads are holding up well, although there are some problems with state roads that run through the region.
North Stonington First Selectman Nick Mullane said potholes and frost heaves have not posed a problem as the town has kept its roads in good condition, which prevents them from becoming susceptible to damage.
Groton Public Works Director Gary Schneider said town roads "are not that bad," though there have been reports of frost heaves and potholes.
Crews are repairing serious potholes using an asphalt material that can be placed in them cold and serve as a temporary patch, he said. Permanent patches will be done during the summer, Schneider said.
The town also had success last year milling areas of road first, and then repairing them with a hot mix of asphalt, Schneider said. But the work must wait until asphalt plants open. Groton Town has a budget of about $25,000 to buy material for the repairs, Schneider said.
Old Lyme Public Works Director Ed Adanti said the town's roads are in decent shape, though some persistent potholes have required multiple fillings.
Adanti expressed surprise that the roads fared so well this winter, and he credits their good condition to the town's program for reconstructing and maintaining roads.
"We're continuing to keep on top of them," he said.
The town also works to keep drains open during storms, so water stays off roads. The Public Works Department's budget includes funding for patches to fix potholes.
"We've been getting very good feedback from the residents," he said. "We've been very happy with the outcome of the storms."
Waiting for weather break
In Ledyard, residents have reported frost heaves in places they never have been before and potholes spread across town and on relatively newer roads, said Mark Bancroft, mayoral assistant and director of administrative services.
"We have a plan to fix our potholes as soon as we can," he said. "I mean we haven't had a break from the snow ever since it started."
He said crews are dealing with potholes in places like major intersections, but otherwise, they have to wait for a break in the weather.
Despite this, few residents have called about the roads.
"I think people understand that it's just a tough, tough winter," Bancroft said.
The town's winter operations budget, which includes salt, sand, overtime and snow plow drivers, is $124,000 over budget, Bancroft said. However, the town does have enough budgeted to repair the roads, he said.
Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon said the worst road damage spots in town are on state roads, Route 165 and Route 2A. Congdon contacted state officials to request a warning sign for one bad spot on Route 165 near the Jehovah's Witnesses building.
Congdon said public works crews have been making cold patch repairs in some spots, but no major emergency repairs have been necessary thus far. Cold patches don't work very well when the roads are constantly wet, salted and covered with snow.
"We've had snow cover for 45 days, and they had to put a lot of salt on the roads," Congdon said.
The town's snow budget and its highway crew both are exhausted, Congdon said.
"These last three storms really put you over the top as far as sand and salt and overtime," Congdon said. "The guys are exhausted."
Lyme First Selectman Ralph Eno said he thinks the town roads are doing as well as can be expected this winter, but driving down Route 156 and Route 82 may not be as smooth.
The town has seen mostly frost heaves this winter, rather than potholes, and the town will assess how to repair them once the weather warms up, said Eno. Sometimes, fixing frost heaves is a factor of drainage, he said.
"We don't have too, too many of them, and right now we're not filling potholes anyway because we're too busy plowing the roads," he explained.
Staff Writers Joe Wojtas and Deborah Straszheim contributed to this report.
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