Road Update: Look Out For Difficult Travel on Courthouse Road

Here is an update on Amherst roadwork from DPW Director Bruce Berry:

Courthouse Road Update

South side Work zone, plans call for a grader to shape the road early next week (scheduled for Monday). Continental is involved in a lot of paving projects around the state and four days of rain this week was a tremendous setback for them. You can do base asphalt (not the top layer) in a light rain, at this point in time, I do not have a paving date.

North side work zone, we are trying to schedule a milling machine to grind up and remove the asphalt (similar to Boston Post Road) but do to conflicts and other Continental projects, the asphalt may be removed with an excavator.

The advantage of a design/build project is as we identify the unexpected, adjustments can easily be made, and with our unit pricing format, costly change orders are avoided. We promised to keep the finished grade at existing and we will maintain that. However during drainage work, the abundance of sand and lack of gravel found in the road base means the road bed will require a deeper excavation then originally anticipated so a thicker stone base can be applied. Sand is very live so during the box out process travel along Courthouse will be extremely difficult. Every effort will be made to give you as much advance notice as possible during this exchange of sand to gravel but I will ask for your patience and understanding as we move forward.

At a yet to be determined date, we will be running a new drainage pipe down Belden Mill and connect to an existing catch basin just outside the Cemetery wall.