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Picture it: snow is falling at the rate of inches per hour at 3:00 a.m. in 20 degree temperatures. While most of us are warm and snug, there is a crew of mostly unseen men hard at work clearing and cleaning almost 120 miles of road so that we can get to work, school, the supermarket, doctor, or a myriad of other locations first thing in the morning.
Who are these men?
They are the same men who work in 90+ degree temperatures with equivalent humidity paving and repairing those roads. You’ve heard the saying, “through snow, rain, and sleet …” In this case, it’s “through snow, rain, sleet, day, night, hot, cold, week days, weekends …” The men of Colchester’s highway department ensure that Colchester’s roads and drainage infrastructure are maintained.
Ten seems to be a magic number when it comes to the highway department. Over the past ten years, Colchester has added almost ten miles to our town – miles of plowing, maintenance, repair, and drainage. Ten men in 1999; ten men in 2008.
What do they do?
Winter months are spent primarily plowing, salting, sanding, clearing ice and snow off catch basins, and clearing brush and trees when weather permits.
Summer brings an entirely new supply of projects. I have a whole new appreciation for the “lowly” catch basin. We drive over it, see it, sometimes clean it off if it’s near our property. But, have you ever thought about what it does? Catch basins, located throughout Colchester, are a key component of the drainage infrastructure. Our highway department cleans 1,500 and rebuilds approximately 20 of them each summer. Along with repairing washouts on road edges, clearing debris and excess erosion from the drainage swales, and sweeping roads, the crews spend most of their time maintaining and repairing our roads.
Crews do several types of work on our roads: crack sealing, surface sealing (the “road version” of driveway sealing), and repaving. While Colchester hires contractors to do much of the actual surface sealing and repaving, our crew does all of the preparation. Preparation for 5.09 miles of surface sealing takes almost a full month.
Summer re-paving: Farmwood Drive, Harvest Lane, Tanglewood, Hill Farms, Hillside, Jeremy River Drive, and Skyview.
Summer surface sealing: Beech Place, Ivy Street, James Street, Loomis Road, Lynn Street, Mary Lane, Old Country 1 & 2, Park Avenue, Prospect Street, Victoria Road, Holiday Homes, Beechwood, Lakeview, Westerly Terrace, Prospect Street, Bushrock, Clark Road, Elm Street, Homonick Road, Judd Brook Road, Park Road, Stollman Road, Taylor Road (section), Wall Street, and Williams Road.
Summer and winter, the highway crew supports the Sewer & Water Department when there is a service or main break. Not only do they help to repair the problem, whether middle of the night or on the weekend, they then repave that area of the road. “Additional duties as assigned” includes hanging buntings on Town Hall and holiday banners, supporting the Parks & Recreation concerts, mowing cemeteries for Memorial Day, picking up litter as time allows, and responding daily to resident concerns.
So, when you see one of those “big orange trucks,” please stop and thank your highway crew for the outstanding work they do every day.
(State routes are not included in the figures above as the Town of Colchester does not routinely maintain those roads.)
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