Mansfield Road Improvements Moving Forward

Mansfield Town Manager William Ross spoke with the selectmen on Wednesday about the current goals for Mansfield's roads and what was done in the last construction season.

He said that since construction began in 2011, $955,000 has been spent in road repair. He said this year's projected construction costs are $1.5 million, $800,000 of which will be paid by the town and the rest will be paid through state and federal funding.

"We've made some good progress on this," Ross said. "I think that it's important that we review the information and give the public the information that we're not just sitting on this money."

This spring, Ross said there is scheduled overlay work on West Street from the route 140 intersection to the route 495 overpass, chip sealing from Forbes Boulevard to Norfolk Street, chip seals on six residential streets. This fall, they are also looking at repaving East Street to the North Easton line. That project is a state project, and will be funded completely by state and federal funds.

"We were able to push it forward, originally the state had talked about paving it over a two year period of time," Ross said. "I kind of kicked a fuss up about that, and said this isn't that big a project we should get it done in one go."

The town is also scheduling chip sealing Maple Street to Oakland Street, Walnut Street to Cate Springs, milling and overlay work on Warren Street, Winthrop Street, Giles Place and additional crack sealing that is still in the works.

"Some of that is contingent on having funds from town meeting," Ross said. "We want to move forward on this."

Ross said on a side note that he heard a lot of comments at the Saturday planning charrette that the town shouldn't do small maintenance work, like chip sealing, and should just repave a damaged road each time.

"Chip sealing is something that people see as throwing on a band aid," he said. "It really isn't a band aide if you have good solid surfacing underneath... chip sealing will seal that surface and maintain that street for at least another five to seven years. It's very affordable to do that level of maintenance because it's a lot less expensive than ripping the whole thing out and starting over again."