HOULTON, Maine — Repairs to a number of town roads will soon be coming in Houlton once the weather cooperates.
Chris Stewart, the town’s public works director, updated Houlton town councilors last week on his plans for the spring/summer construction season. Starting May 18, Pleasant Street from the Houlton Armory to the Foxcroft Road will be resurfaced. Repairs to Columbia Street, which includes repairing the catch basins, are in the works. Other roads to be worked on include Burleigh, Summer, State, Orchard and Sunnyside streets, and one-half of the Porter Settlement Road.
Stewart said he was also exploring the use of “chip seal” on the Porter Settlement Road as a way to reduce the town’s costs. Chip seal is a pavement surface that combines one or more layers of asphalt with one or more layers of crushed rock, sand and gravel. This process is more commonly done on rural roads with lower traffic volumes as the finished product does not last as long as traditional asphalt roads.
“Typically, (chip seal) is a third to half the price to lay asphalt,” Stewart said. “If it is laid right, you should get between five to eight years (with chip seal).”
He estimated it would cost about $80,000 to do one-half of the Porter Settlement Road with traditional asphalt, while the entire road could be chip sealed for about $83,000.
The town budgeted $200,000 in its roads account for 2015, but of that amount about $20,000 is used to do “crack sealing” of roads. That leaves $180,000 for paving.
River Street is another area of concern for the town. Stewart said. The road from the Elm Street extension into Houlton Community Park is in dire need of repair due to large potholes. A 3-foot sinkhole opened up in this section of road a few weeks ago, but has since been filled in with gravel. Stewart said repaving the entire stretch of River Street is something that could be considered, but at a cost of $36,000 simply to repave he did not see that as a viable option.
Guardrails along the lower portion of that street are also in need of replacing.
“I have been talking with MDOT on who we need to call to see if we can get some help (financially),” Stewart said. “The railing that is up there now is not safe. I am looking into that, but guardrail is really expensive.”
Last year, the town did not do any street rebuilding projects in order to use those funds in other areas of the town’s budget.
MDOT, however, performed several major road construction projects, in the Shiretown covering 5.48 miles at a cost of $2,356,291. U.S. Route 2 (Military Street), from the intersection of Kendall Street, was repaved up to White Settlement Road, while U.S. Route 1 (North Street), from the Route 2/Kendall Street intersection to about the Tractor Supply and Court Street, from the U.S. Post Office, to the Houlton-Hodgdon town line were all repaved.
“Pleasant Street is very much needed,” said council chairman Wade Hanson. “There is nothing pleasant about that section of road.”
