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The Plaistow Highway Department personnel remained the same in 2007, Dana Rabito, Foreman, Aaron Shea, Laborer, Andy Jones, Laborer, Floyd Gates, Seasonal Laborer, & myself. With assistance from hired outside contractors, we followed through with several projects in 2007. I will list some of the major ones throughout this report.
2007 started with an ice storm followed by several small snow & ice events until February 14 when we were hit with a ten inch snow to ice storm. Those are always a challenge. The month of March had a couple good size storms. There was a 3” storm on the 2nd, a 15” storm on the 16th – 18th, & then a 2” storm on the 24th. But winter didn’t end there, in April we had a 6” snow & ice storm on the 4th & 5th and a small 1” storm on the 12th. Then we probably all remember the record breaking December of 2007. We had 10 different storm events adding up to approximately 36” of snow & ice. That really takes its toll on Highway personnel, outside contractors, town
equipment, & of course, the budget.
Once we got past the winter weather, we had to deal with a spring time flood. On April 15th it started to rain and it continued for several days adding up to more than 5” of rain. We had a few areas that the water encroached up and over the roadway. We never had to completely close the roads but just warn the traveling public that water was in the road. The fact that we didn’t lose roadways has a lot to do with the continuing plan to address a drainage problem each year. The town did receive some FEMA money to help offset some of the cost of overtime & materials used to secure the roadway infrastructure.
Moving from spring to summer, we had all the town streets swept to remove any leftover debris from the past winter season. This was done by F.B Hale from Hudson, NH.
Summer was a very busy season for the Highway Department. We started the season putting the Road Surface Management Plan into affect. We hired Continental Paving from Londonderry, NH to reclaim & binder parts of Birch Street & Ashe Street. We also paved Old Road, Jesse George Road, Witch Lane, Ingalls Terrace, Kimball Avenue, Pineview Ave, Maple Avenue, Whiton Place, and Wentworth Avenue & Hilltop Road. Paving these roads increases the Town’s overall rating & ultimately supports the RSMS program. I would like to thank the Town’s people for continuing to support the concept of spending a descent amount of money each year so we don’t fall too far below the curve into a more expensive repair. We hope to do the same in 2008.
Drainage improvements were another important accomplishment in 2007. We completed two different jobs. Witch Lane was the first one. This was one that has been several years in the making. Al Hoyt & Sons of Plaistow installed two catch basins & almost 200 feet of culvert pipe in late summer. The other one was in the fall when Senter Bros of Plaistow installed 12 catch basins & more than 1100 feet of culvert pipe on Stanwood Avenue & Duston Avenue. These projects are very important in helping to secure the roadway infrastructure when it rains or during massive snow-
melt. In 2008 we hope to extend some of the drainage improvements on Old County Road. Also, I would like to repair the culvert on Smith Corner Road.
Other projects completed in 2007 were the re striping of all stop bars, yellow center lines, and the Town building parking lots. Numerous hours cutting & clearing roadside brush, street sign installation, vehicle maintenance, catch basin repairs, & cold patching.
Thanks again to the voters for approving the purchase of a new six wheel dump truck with a plow, wing, & spreader. We put that truck into service in October.
In late October, we hired R.J. Barrett of Westford, Ma to clean 453 of the 460 town maintained catch basins. This removes a years worth of debris from the basin & also gives us one last chance to inspect it before winter.
In closing, I can not complete this report without expressing my sincere thanks to all the residents of Plaistow for all their support with my budget & warrant articles, all my hired contractors, the Board of Selectmen, Town Manager, and to my men & their families. The concept of all these people working together is what makes Plaistow a safer place to live & visit.
Respectfully submitted,
Daniel Garlington
Highway Supervisor
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