Six roads made the City’s road repair list for 2023, and another will be part of the longer-road program. City Councilors also heard a report of a meeting where the Department of Public Works said the City’s road rating had dropped.
Repair List
On Dec. 13, the City Council approved the funding for the annual road repair program, as well as longer street projects in future years.
Roads that will be repaired in 2023 are: Bates Road, Bates Road East, Essex Street, Nash Street, Francis Street and Bradshaw Street.
The City Council approved $2.5 million in funds for the 2023 road repair. In addition, Councilors approved moving $1.5 million for repairs of Fifth Avenue from the Fiscal Year 2022 long streets and connector road repair fund and to the Fiscal Year 2023 program, along with related areas on Watertown Street. Morse Street was included in the FY2022 program and will remain on on the list of projects for FY2022.
The Council also approved future long streets projects. In Fiscal Year 2024 (for construction in the spring of 2025) the project will be Forest and Springfield streets. In Fiscal Year 2025 Riverside Street will be repaired with work being done in the spring of 2026.
The amount of money spent on the long streets and connector program was also increased from $1.5 million to $2 million annually.
Roads that were on the list for construction in 2022 — Boylston, Chester, and Locke streets — have been completed, according to the Department of Public Works, but the long streets project for this year, Highland Avenue, has been delayed by a shortage of construction materials.
Roads in Worse Shape
The Watertown DPW tracks the conditions of roads and gives them a score on the Pavement Management Index. Public Works officials call it a snapshot of road conditions throughout the City.
From 2016 to 2021, Watertown’s overall score dropped from 65 to 61, according to the DPW. The DPW attributed the decline in roadway conditions to the increase in road excavation permits over that time, according to a report from the Council’s Committee on Public Works meeting.
“There were 1,700 permits issued between 2016 and 2021 for gas main installations and gas, water, and sewer main replacements,” the report said. “In part this is related to the many new developments being built, all of which access these services.”
Our road scores drop but we’re going to spend money to purchase land from Waltham for open space? Again, I’m all for open space… but it’s not priority compared to the condition of our roads
And the road repair will be funded through the infrastructure bill passed in Washington. That’s the one the former President said he would pass for four LONG years!
Any chance you could provide a link to the DPW file Pavement Management Index?
I have searched the DPW web page and not found it.
I’m not sure if they are online. Also, they are always changing. That is why they said it was a snapshot. A road may be repaved, or it may get. new trench.
I don’t understand why we aren’t requiring developers to repave portions of streets that have been opened for their profit rather than allowing them to slap dash patch them. These patches are poorly done and wash out in the first heavy rain leaving. Huge potholes.
Something’s fishy. Not a square inch left to build on. Where is all the money going from permits, taxes, etc.? And how are those chosen actually selected? Have you driven down Lovell Road recently? I can’t imagine there are roads in word shape. Good God.
Nothing fishy at all. Facts matter.
It’s fishy to those of us that live here and have to deal with it on a daily basis. Facts matter.
“Fishy” implies something nefarious or corrupt is at play. Nothing of the kind is even remotely true here. There are more street repairs to be done than money to do them. These are the facts that in fact matter. People who live on a bad street always think theirs is the worst. That doesn’t always make it so.
Fact is that’s not true.
I can honestly say my street is perfectly fine. But most of the streets the residents of Watertown including myself, are not fine. In fact the are horrendous. The residents and tax payers should not have to deal with this. There’s more than enough money the town receives to pay for this.
Especially with taxes again increasing. Which are also gonna make rents go up FYI.
The city has a 7 million dollars lawsuit under appeal because the action of a few police officers that may have to paid for one thing.
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