SWAMPSCOTT — A $790,000 paving project, overseen by the town’s Department of Public Works and encompassing a large number of roads which haven’t been paved for more than 20 years, is about halfway complete.
The project is being paid for by two years worth of Chapter 90 funding, or state funds allocated for capital improvement projects, along with $200,000 approved by Town Meeting, according to Gino Cresta, department of public works (DPW) director and assistant town administrator.
This year, Swampscott received $295,475 in Chapter 90 funds. Last year, the town received about the same amount, or $295,854.
Cresta said funds from both years are being used for the project because he’s about a year behind on paving. Each year, Chapter 90 funds are used for street paving in town.
To determine what roads to pave each year, Cresta said he uses a pavement management plan, drawn up by the BETA Group, a consultant the town hired in 2015 to rate the streets from top to bottom.
All of the streets included in this summer’s roadwork, with the exception of Essex Street, have not been paved for more than 20 years. Essex Street was last paved in 2006, Cresta said.
“It’s long overdue,” Cresta said.
Many of the streets included in the project, which is expected to span 10 to 12 weeks and began six weeks ago, have significant potholes, sunken trenches from utility work, or delamination, which is when the top inch peels off the roadway, Cresta said.
Cresta said Danvers-based BitCon Corporation was hired through a bidding process.
The project was broken up into three phases, so as to avoid milling all of the roadways at once, which causes quite a disruption to traffic, he said.
Cresta said work was completed this week on Berkshire Road and Rock Avenue. Paving began on Wednesday on Eureka Avenue, Mountain Avenue and Grant Road.
Work consists of the company milling the roadway down an inch and a half, followed by adjusting the the structures, and then coming back to finish paving. An inch and a half of paving is put down and then the DPW waits three or four weeks before relining the streets with center lines and any crosswalks, Cresta said.
Paving has been completed or will be done on Sampson Avenue, Eureka Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Pleasant Street, Greenwood Avenue, Bay View Avenue, Cedar Hill Terrace, Sunset Drive, Lawrence Terrace, Merrymount Drive, Hampshire Street, Manton Road, Orchard Circle, Mountain Avenue, Grant Road, Aspen Road, Bates Road, Longwood Drive, Rock Avenue, Stetson Avenue, Berkshire Road and Essex Street.
