Snow Gone, Ansonia DPW Focuses On Battered Roads Left Behind

photo:ethan fryAnsonia Public Works Director Doug Novak got a round of applause at an Aldermen’s meeting Tuesday after delivering some welcome news: his crews had gone five straight days without needing to work overtime plowing snow off city streets.

They’ll still be busy for quite awhile dealing with roads, though. As the snow and ice recedes, DPW will now turn its attention to finding all the teeth-chattering potholes left on the city’s streets and filling them in.

And come summer, the city will begin repaving 23 city streets using about $500,000 in state money, with a view to asking voters to pick up about $2 million more of the tab in a referendum.

photo:ethan fryPotholes

Novak said Thursday (March 12) that after a harsh winter, melting snow causes other problems with roads.

The water gets under the pavement, the frost pushes the water up and it buckles the pavement,” Novak said.

Now that snow has stopped falling, DPW crews are in pothole-repair mode.

We’re out,” Novak said. We’ve been out for two days already.”

He said if you see a pothole, report it to the DPW at 203 – 736-5945.

On Thursday the city announced they’ll be able to patch those holes in a bit more cost-effective manner.

contributedMayor David Cassetti and Milford Mayor Ben Blake announced a deal whereby Ansonia DPW crews will scoop up broken asphalt from the city’s streets and deliver it to Milford.

There, Milford DPW crews will use an asphalt recycling machine to process the material into hot asphalt and sell it back to Ansonia at a cost of $50 per ton. 

Cassetti said the going rate for hot asphalt is around $100 per ton, calling the deal a win-win.”

Aldermen approved the concept in January after Novak, who had been in talks with his counterpart in Milford, Chris Saley, suggested the deal.

Paving

Cassetti also announced this week he wants to repave 23 city streets.

Many of you are seeing some of our streets buckling and potholes that were the result of the heavy snow, ice, and freezing temperatures,” Cassetti told Aldermen at their meeting March 10. In addition, many of our roads have been neglected over the years.”

Cassetti said the following streets have been identified as in need of repair:

  • Smith Street
  • Hunter’s Lane
  • Doyle Drive
  • Crescent Street
  • Beech Street
  • Sobin Drive
  • Ford Street
  • High Acres Road
  • Bartholomew Avenue
  • Jewett Street
  • Beaver Street, from Moulthrop Street to Woodbrige Avenue
  • Clifton Avenue
  • Woodlawn Avenue Extension
  • Root Avenue
  • Finney Street
  • Greenfield Drive
  • Westfield Avenue
  • Rutland Street
  • Grove Street from Mary Street to Division Street
  • Lester Street
  • Hershey Drive
  • Morningside Drive
  • North Prospect Street

The city will put about $500,000 toward the project in the form of state grants for roads and capital improvements.

That will cover a portion, not all the roads,” Cassetti said Thursday. What we want to do is go to referendum on the remaining streets in November and tell the taxpayers we need money for paving roads.”

The mayor said the city needs to get aggressive” with reclaiming its streets after a rough few months of weather.

Really this past winter they’ve taken a severe beating,” he said.

The city plans to mill the listed roads from curb to curb and repave them completely.

Paving work will run from July 1 to Nov. 1, Cassetti said, and will entail curb-to-curb milling and repaving of the selected streets.

The city has not yet identified specifically which streets will be paved before the referendum, Cassetti said.

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