By Lisa Loomis
Waitsfield Select Board will hold another public hearing on the issue of Joslin Hill Road next Monday, January 19. The meeting follows a very-well attended hearing about the road that took place in December.
The road is in very poor shape and the select board has, for some time, been considering whether to fix it properly or find some short-term measure. The question is whether to rebuild (and potentially improve) or shim Joslin Hill Road. If the town is going forward with the project in 2015, the town budget for town reports needs to be completed by the end of this month and voters will need to approve the project at Town Meeting in March.
At issue is whether the town will undertake a complete rebuild of the road or do a temporary fix called a shim which would last three to five years. Town residents also have concerns about pedestrian and cyclist safety on the road while some residents of the road are concerned that fixing safety issues would result in the loss of stone walls and trees.
The board, at its December hearing, heard from town resident Mike Kingsbury who suggested the road could be rebuilt for $750,000 to $800,000, but he said the longer the town waits the more expensive the repair will be. Previous estimates of projected costs have ranged from $1 million to $2 million. The cost of shimming the road is $75,000.
Taxpayers who are concerned about the safety of people walking and biking on the road have asked the select board to look into whether the shoulder on either side of the road could be widened. The town had a grant to look into whether the pedestrian and bike safety could be improved without destroying the character of the road, but the select board voted to reject that grant.
The board itself is split on whether the road should be shimmed, which could last up to five years and buy the town some time to complete other projects such as Bridge Street work and completion of the new town office.
{loadnavigation}
