Westwood Roads Receive High Ratings

Westwood’s roads are feeling the love.

According to the Beta Group, which tests the quality of pavement on roads throughout Massachusetts, Westwood’s roads received an an all-time high rating of 85.9 out of 100.

“It’s something our department is pretty proud of,” Todd Korchin, Westwood’s director of public works, told the Boston Globe. He said Beta Group officials told him that the average pavement rating around Massachusetts was about 70 percent – compared with Westwood’s 85.9.

The average pavement rating for most towns in Massachusetts is around 70 percent, way lower than the rating Westwood received.

Korchin told the Globe that several key factors contributed to the high quality of the roads in town, including the voters’ approval of a $2.4 million road improvement bond about four years ago, as well as the $500,000 the town receives annually from the state for roadwork.

In addition, he said the town has been using some new and effective “pavement preservation techniques,” such as micro-surfacing roads instead of waiting until they’re in bad enough condition to need to be completely repaved.

Beta Group assesses the pavement conditions in Westwood every five years.