By Nicholas Harmon
To follow up my recent assessment of the Joslin Hill Road repaving project, I met with Mike Kingsbury and we reviewed the issues, details and situation at hand. Mike has thoroughly studied the road and completed several detailed cost estimates for the work that needs to and could be done. Mike is a retired contractor and has performed many road construction projects. His credentials are impeccable. My summary is below and which I also shared at the September 22, 2014, Waitsfield Select Board meeting.
Joslin Hill Road needs to be repaved. It's been almost 40 years since it was paved. There are some serious safety concerns about the road that should be addressed. It is thought that bike path(s) might be a way to mitigate some of the safety concerns but would require expanding the road and extensive work costing as much as $575,000 per side.
There are several options for repaving the existing road, but the two that should be seriously considered range from $450,000 to $900,000 based on Mike Kingsbury's estimates. This is based upon repaving the existing road only and doing no widening. The 2013 town report has $900,000 allocated for a 2016 capital project requiring voter approval for bond financing. The difference between the $450,000 and the $900,000 projects are longevity. It's estimated that a 40-year life would be expected from the $900,000 and 20 years for the lesser expenditure. The more expensive job would require fewer repavings and repairs due to the intrinsic higher quality of that construction project. This is pretty straightforward.
If we decide that in order to address safety concerns a bike path is the answer then we would need to perform a survey to ascertain the exact location of the center of the road. This could cost as much as $100,000. As stated above if we do, in fact, decide to run a bike path along one or both sides of the road it is estimated to cost $475,000 on the south side and $575,000 on the north side. This is based upon a four-foot bike path and includes drainage ditches, tree removal, telephone pole relocations and the necessary materials and labor. These numbers might be slightly high, but they are probably within 10 percent. Additionally we must anticipate legal costs from neighbors who dispute the right of the town to expand the road onto land they believe is theirs and have improved.
In our opinion a bike path is a very expensive way to address the safety concerns. The actual usage of the road for recreational purposes is very limited as is the traffic. Country roads! The safety concerns can be specifically identified as follows from the top to the bottom of Joslin Hill Road: the blind hill, the blind curve, the narrow culvert and excessive speeds along the road in general. It seems that for a modest investment we could address these safety issues with mirrors, signage and flashing speed limit sign(s). Additionally while we are at it we could also try to address the dangerous blind spot at Mill Hill on East Warren Road just up from the covered bridge. A mirror there is probably the answer as the speed limit is moderated by the new flashing sign.
So where do we go from here? We believe that the select board should appoint a commission of two or three persons to come up with specific recommendations to be presented to the voters at the 2015 Town Meeting. That commission should include Charlie Goodman and Rodney Jones who are intimately familiar with the issues and road construction and maintenance. Perhaps Chris Pierson should lead this effort as he's got a lot of construction and road experience, too. Mike is most willing to share his time and thoughtful work that has already been done, and I am willing, too.
Conclusion: Joslin Hill Road needs to be repaired and the time is now to address it. The question that remains is how do we appropriately address the safety concerns? Do we add bike path(s) or perhaps we could more easily and cost effectively address the safety concerns with simpler methods as outlined above. At the end of the day it's the Waitsfield voters who must decide where to allocate our limited resources. Please get involved by telling us what you think either directly, here or at the special select board meeting on October 6.
Nicholas Harmon lives in Waitsfield.
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