Saugus seeks state OK for unofficial roadways

SAUGUS – The town has roughly 125 miles in roadways but only receives credit and funding from the state highway department to care for just 75 miles. That is a statistic Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato and the Planning Board are attempting to change.At the urging of Town Manager Andrew Bisignani Attubato is working on an article for Town Meeting that would have 8-10 miles of roads, many of them familiar, accepted as official streets.The reason the town has as many unofficial (or paper streets) as it does is largely due to the number of developments built in recent years. Attubato said developments are put in, streets are laid out but, while most meet the criteria to be accepted, state status has not been pursued.Official roads equal increased Chapter 90 money (which pays for roadwork) from the state, a fact that fuels town officials’ desire to have the streets accepted.To have a street accepted it must be the proper width, have the proper sidewalk and or curbing and have the proper utilities underground.”The other problem is a legal issue by Massachusetts law,” Attubato added. “To have a street accepted everyone on the street has to agree because everyone on the street has a say. If someone, for some unknown reason, doesn’t want to have the street accepted, they can say no.”Attubato said of the 50 miles of unofficial roadways with town limits he would first pursue state status for the roads built inside developments within the last 10 years. He said they largely complied with the Planning Board specs for accepted roadways, “so those should be easy to get accepted.”Attubato said the Planning Board, led by Chairman Mary Carfagna and engineer James Sotiros, has done solid work on the project.”They’ve been working diligently to get the streets accepted,” he said.Once Attubato compiles the list, the Planning Board must vote to accept the streets and then the Town Meeting must weigh in. If Town Meeting members approve the list it is then sent to Mass Highway Department for its approval.Attubato said some might see the road acceptance program as heading down a dubious path. The idea, he said, is if the roads aren’t accepted then the town isn’t responsible for them but Attubato said that isn’t necessarily so.Even though the roads are not part of the sanctioned system, the town does plow and sand them regularly and picks up trash.”We take care of them anyway and this way they’re official,” he said.