$1.2 Million Road Repair Costs Town About $250,000

Members of the RTM approved moving $90,000 from 2010-11 contingency funds to the same year's Pavement Rehabilitation account on request from Janice Plaziak last Wednesday night.

The newly approved $90,000 will be added to the original $110,000 in the existing account so the town can contribute about $250,000 to a state-aided road revitalization project that will cost $1.295 million to repair three roads (the town will arrive at $250,000 with an additional $60,000 available in CT DOT Town Aid funds).

Roads that qualify to be repaved in Branford must be what the RTM members called "feeder roads" but what Plaziak corrected as "collector roads." 

Back in February of 2010, Plaziak applied for a grant through the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG) for state funds to repave three collector roads that are town roads. There are about one dozen state-designated town roads that are collector roads (see photo of map). Plaziak said she looked at the state DOT map, which defines the roads and made an analysis of road conditions to choose three collector roads for the project with an estimated cost of $525,000. The SCRCOG grant will pay 80 percent of the cost to repair collector roads and the town absorbs the other 20 percent.

Plaziak explained that $110,000 was originally budget based on her estimate, but when the state made their assessment, the cost jumped to $1.295 million and the town needed to meet their part of the grant obligation thus requesting more funds.

Through this grant, Cedar Street from Main Street to North Main Street (2,400 feet) will be repaved as well as a portion of Pine Orchard Road from Yowago Street to Elizabeth Street (1,700 feet). However, the most debated repaving was a section of Thimble Island Road from Buena Vista to Flying Point (2,070 feet) in Stony Creek.

Representative Mike Nardella-R commented that the amount of traffic is minuscule on Thimble Island Road in that area. “You know what? Don’t do that segment and do the other segments,” he stated.

Representative Sandra Reiners-D responded that the three roads selected to be repaved were chosen based on a needs inventory taken at the state level.

While Reiners may be correct that the roads where chosen on a needs basis, Plaziak did confirm that she, with the First Selectman Anthony "Unk" DaRos' approval, selected the three roads for repair. The state did not choose the three roads but supplied a map of eligible roads.

"The town chose the roads," she said, "based on the limted amount of roads available for funding."

According to the Connecticut DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick, there is an inventory of state roads, which is maintained and assessed for quality but the condition of town roads, however, are under the local purvey. 

Getting state aid for repair of local roads, said DaRos is a good thing. "If we can get this, what it does is free up money to fix other roads."

Plaziak explained that portions of Cedar Street (state-owned) were repaired and repaved during the intersection reconstruction some six to seven years ago. Repaving Cedar Street from North Main to Main will be essentially finishing the project.

Two years ago Thimble Island Road from School Street to Buena Vista Road, she said, was repaved at a cost of more than $300,000 to the town. Repaving all three roads in town will cost the town about $200,000 in taxpayer money or about $6.60 per resident.

"In my opinion," she said, "these roads are the ones that need repaving and they fit the funding source."

When Plaziak first applied for the funds, she said her estimated cost was half of the state assessed amount because the state DOT had to scope the roads before approving the funds. After the 2011 winter, Thimble Island Road, according to the DOT assessment, needed complete pavement rehabilitation rather than the anticipated mill and pave, which costs considerably less.

While it looks like the green light is on for the additional funding, the work needs to go out to bid for final numbers to be determined and Plaziak doesn't anticipate the project starting until next spring or summer.

In the future, Plaziak added, the state's designation of collector roads is something that is being reassessed. "Linden Avenue," she said, "is not a collector road and that serves all of Pawson Park."

Regardless of which roads are repaved, she said, "I thought this was a good thing that we are leveraging state funds."