HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT -2010
The winter of 2010 was a little below average snow fall year for us but we still kept quite busy with plowing, sanding and cutting tree limbs. Throughout the winter, 235 tons of salt was used and 1,000 yards of sand applied to the roads of Jackson. Road work was completed on Tyrol, Sugar Hill Lane and Green Hill Road. The reclaiming work we are doing seems to be a very good investment and is a much better way of repairing our roads instead of just shimming them.
We have also spent quite a bit of time removing dead trees from around the town. A new procedure we are doing is snow-blowing the sidewalks. This seems to be working much better and is fairly inexpensive. The sidewalks should last longer without having to utilize the grader on them.
2011 work will possibly consist of more reclaim and paving on Tyrol, reclaiming a piece of Eagle Mountain Road, culvert work on Juniper, lots of ditching all over town, shimming here and there, dead tree removal, and gravel on Chesley Farm and Dundee Roads.
Additional equipment obtained in 2010 was a pickup truck and a heavy duty plow truck. The grader will need to be replaced in the future and although it will be expensive, it’s a piece of apparatus that should last around 30 years.
The Highway facility construction has gone very well and LA Drew has been wonderful to work with. The facility seems to be tucked away from the road nicely but is still easily accessible to trucks. It will be a huge improvement over what we have had in the past, and will last long into the future. It will be very nice to work on a vehicle inside of a building during the winter or when it’s raining.
The Highway Department’s portion in helping to build the new facility has gone very well and has saved a huge amount of money for the town by using our own employees. I’d like to thank my crew, Burr Phillips, Mike Couture and all the local contractors, including L.A. Drew, Fred Henry, Dick Bennett, Gary Speirs, Tamarack Construction, Alan Eastman and Rob Casella for helping to prepare the site. Local contractors were very generous in helping us complete the excavation portion at a reasonable price and I’d like to thank them for that. This building would not be even built if it were not for the committee members Hank Dresch, Phil Davies and Gino Funicello. A very big thank you goes out to them.
We have two new town employees, Pat Kelley and Gerald James, who are working out very well. This completes our team and I hope we are able to stay this way for long into the future.
Please try to drive carefully in the winter months. We try our best to keep the roadways of Jackson safe, but as you all know, it’s hard to compete with Mother Nature.
I would like to thank the Selectmen, the Highway Department crew and the towns’ people for their support as I go through my second year in the Road Agent’s job.
Respectfully submitted,
Jay Henry, Road Agent
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