LUDLOW, Maine — It’s no secret that many small communities struggle to keep up with proper maintenance of their roads.
In Ludlow, like so many other small communities in the area, numerous roads are in are in serious need of attention. But what can a town do when they do not have sufficient funds to cover costly repairs?
That is the question members of the Ludlow Board of Selectmen debated Thursday evening during their regular monthly meeting as the group met with Brian Stewart of Stewart Engineering of Houlton to discuss options for several town roads.
Stewart examined several roads in the community and found that the Townline, Hemore, Moosebrook, Callahan and Laskey roads, which cover about 9.4 miles, are in need of serious repairs. In fact, Stewart said while inspecting the Hemore Road, his vehicle nearly got stuck on the muddy, gravel-based road.
Many of the roads in Ludlow are gravel-based and have issues each spring during the winter run-off.
“Everything I saw was pretty bad,” Stewart said. “What is there now on all of those roads is almost as bad as it gets. There are probably only half a dozen culverts that are fit to keep. You have water running down the road, instead of the ditch. But worse, most of the roads don’t even have a ditch. I just don’t see how you can band-aid it. You are going to have to do some serious capital improvements.”
The town does not budget very much for road maintenance, nor does it have an undesignated fund balance it can dip into for costly issues.
Therefore, the only way to cover any road repairs would be for the town to take out a loan. Selectmen reluctantly agreed to ask residents to support a bond in the amount of $400,000 to fix some of the road issues. That matter will be put on a ballot to be voted May 10.
Stewart presented a number of scenarios to the town on what it could expect for costs to rebuild the roads. Those costs, which he stated were on the high end of the spectrum, ranged from $1.5-$2.5 million.
“We all know the roads need over a million dollars, but we just can’t do that,” said board member Jeff Condon.
A public hearing on that bond question will be held Thursday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the town office.
