Redding Road Repairs Almost Underway

After this pavement-cracking, asphalt-tearing winter, driving down some Redding roads is like navigating a stormy sea while cannonballs explode underneath your feet.

Luckily, the Highway Department and Board of Selectman have a plan to ease your shocks and suspensions, and they discussed the details of road reconstruction last Thursday, March 31, at

There is $274,619 from the Road Repair and Restoration Plan’s operating budget that is immediately available to spend on much-needed road repair and maintenance. The primary roads to be fixed are Dayton Road, Orchard Road and Ledgewood Road.

Highway Superintendent Bruce Sanford presented the Board of Selectman with a packet that included an additional eight roads to those listed above, including Cross Highway, Portland Avenue, Limekiln Road, Peaceable Street, Sunset Hill Road, Deer Hill Road and Woodland Drive. The highway department is planning to begin overlay on these roads—which includes leveling, paving, and drainage—in the upcoming months.

Prior to all reconstruction efforts, some of which have already been underway, the town had $879,619 allocated for road repair. Already spent are the costs for repairing Dayton Road (approximately $170,000), Orchard Road ($240,000) and Ledgewood Road ($195,000).

The Highway Department has already begun to restore Dayton Road, but total restoration efforts may take up to three years, Sanford said.

"We average three to 10 calls a day about potholes on these roads," said Sanford, adding reconstruction priority will be given to roads that are heavily traveled.

To make sure that scenic roads are properly preserved during the reconstruction project, the Planning Commission will work with the Highway Department and monitor repair efforts.

“Our goal is not to come in and tie up the process,” Toby Welles of the Planning Commission said. “But we want to keep the [reworking of the roads] in with the town’s preservation guidelines. We don’t want them to become speedways."

“[We want to] be in the loop, and if there are some tricky issues, be in the conversation,” Welles said.

Additional money for the Highway Department will be available come July 1, when the 2012 road restoration operating budget becomes accessible.  

“Typically we have $150,000 budgeted for the whole year,” said Kectcham, adding that $274,619 "is a significant number."

Poverty Hollow Road’s one-way bridge will be repaired with a new membrane and tack coat for approximately $50,000, Sanford said.

“We’ll get eight to 10 years [of use] out of it if Mother Nature treats us good,” said Sanford.

“This is very consistent with what our planning project has been,” First Selectman Natalie Ketcham said, referring to a five-year plan the board put together a couple of years ago. “We’re sticking to that [plan] and fine tuning it."

The selectmen thanked Sanford and the Highway Department crew for their efforts.