By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

While some in-town roads will sport smooth surfaces by fall, others will remain scarred from new sewer line installation into 2022.

Engineer Brent Bridges of Woodard & Curran gave a road work overview to Bridgton Selectboard members Tuesday, July 6 during a workshop meeting. Presently, Sargent has three crews working on the sewer project, while the Bridgton Water District has one.

“Between designing drainage and the street upgrades, things are meshing together well,” he said.

Bridges noted that the Water District added Wayside Avenue and Kennard Street to the water main improvement list.

Meanwhile, a draft plan has been developed regarding paving and drainage work slated for completion by this fall. Because of pipe cost and availability, along with time remaining in the construction season, Bridges said the target is to do 50% of road paving and drainage work this year.

“Pipe is hard to come by and its cost is 50% higher than a year ago,” he said. “To not pay premium prices, we looked at what we can do effectively and efficiently this year and push the rest of the paving and drainage work to next year.”

A color-coded map illustrated work to be completed in 2021, as follows: Gage, Fowler, Walker and Cottage Streets; Wayside Avenue, Nulty, Park and Elm Streets, Hillcrest Avenue; Gibbs Avenue; Crockett, Meadow, Mechanic, School and Pine Streets, and a small section of Willett Road. 

The cost breakdown: paving $368,000; drainage $161,000; 10% contingency $52,000; total cost, $581,000. The goal is to complete construction by the end of August, and pave at the end of October.

Paving and drainage work to be completed in 2022: Pleasant, North High, South High, Kennard, Bacon and Bennett Streets.

Roads to be reclaimed and paved in 2022 include: Creamery, Church, Chase and Iredale Streets.

Selectman Paul Tworog raised the question about sidewalk upgrades. Bridges said sidewalks were not part of the sewer project, other than if the walkways are damaged due to sewer or water line construction that repairs would be made.

Town Manager Bob Peabody said Public Services Director David Madsen has checked the sidewalks, and found it would be difficult to add walkways on some streets since those roads are already “extremely narrow.”

The town has proposed a sidewalk along Kennard Street, while it already plans to construct a new sidewalk on Highland Avenue. In both cases, the amount of pedestrian foot traffic on those streets led town officials to recommend sidewalk construction.

Resident Sue Hatch, however, voiced opposition to a sidewalk for Kennard Street. She noted it is very narrow — “I have a picture that shows in the winter, it was down to one lane,” she said. Citing the lengthy battle against the Hotel Bridgton project, Hatch felt that what the neighborhood has gone through the past few years, “the town owes us to be part of the discussion” regarding a sidewalk there. She later presented Selectboard chairwoman Carmen Lone with a petition, signed by 11 individuals, to keep Kennard Street as it exists, without a sidewalk.

Bridges concurred that Kennard is a “tight street.” When configuring the space needed for a sidewalk, Bridges works with the first number of 21-feet of pavement, which enables a plow truck to maneuver past a parked car

Tworog suggested the board hold a workshop to review existing town sidewalk plans and allow for more public input.

Once construction concludes on those roads not slated for paving this year, a mix will be used on the “trenched” areas and compacted as “tight as possible to leave the street in the best possible shape,” Bridges said.

If potholes emerge, Selectman Bear Zaidman asked whether Sargent would repair the surface, to which Bridges said ‘yes.’

The final piece of construction talk was regarding a list of specifications contractors would need to follow to hook a residential line into the town sewer line. When it came to developing a list of contractors who could carry out the pipe installation and hook-up (the hook-up would be overseen by the Sewer Superintendent), there was a concern regarding allqualified contractors be included. Town officials will send out letters to contractors regarding if they would be interested in being included on the list, which residents could then consider when the time arrives for them to hook into the wastewater system. If a contractor is missed, the list will be updated, officials agreed.

Bridges anticipates that people will begin connecting to the wastewater system, without any restrictions, in the spring of 2023.