Nahant officials defend paving project materials

NAHANT – A paving project is leaving some residents with a rocky ride and has them wondering why.The town’s Paving Management Plan includes using a material called “chip seal” on Carey and Cliff streets and Maolis and Marginal roads along with short stretches on Hood, Winter, Summer and Vernon streets and Forty Steps Lane.”I’ve received some calls about it,” said Selectman Michael Manning. “It’s a way to get the most bang for our buck.”Chip seal is a two-part process where first a liquid asphalt is laid down topped by about one-eighth of an inch of stone. Manning said the stone stays in place for about 10 days. Cars traveling over it push it into the liquid asphalt and helps fill cracks and crevices, he said. Once the stone is set, the excess is swept up but what remains is still a slightly rocky surface of crushed stone.In a letter to one concerned Maolis Street resident, interim Town Manager Mark Cullinan said the chip seal costs about 40 percent less than traditional bituminous asphalt, and it extends the condition of the road surface by eight to 10 years.Manning noted that the gritty surface also offers good traction in wet or snowy weather.Other streets in town including Lennox, Simmons, Wilson and Little Nahant roads, all in Little Nahant, and Gardner, Sunset and Trimountain roads along with High Street extension were milled and paved with traditional hot top.The streets chosen for the chip seal are largely level, pothole-free straightaways, Manning explained. Because the initial layer uses loose stone, Manning said the town didn’t want to apply it to streets with a steep grade where it might be washed downhill into catch basins. Cullinan wrote in his letter that he would ask the Department of Public Works to monitor the condition in rainy weather, “but I don’t anticipate there will be any change.”Manning said the material was recommended by Fay, Spofford & Thorndike, the engineering company that manages the town’s paving program.Despite concerns, Cullinan told the Maolis Road resident, “once the stone is set and swept I think you will be satisfied with the look and performance of the road.”