#Middlebury #CapitalPlan
These before and after photos of Old Watertown Road show the road’s condition before and after it was milled and paved as part of Middlebury’s Capital Plan. The road’s entire drainage system also was rebuilt and all the culvert pipe was replaced. (Photos courtesy Town of Middlebury)
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
Middlebury First Selectman Ed St. John will be joined by other town officials at Capital Plan Updates being offered Thursday, Jan 10, and Thursday, Jan. 24, at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. in the Larkin Room at the Middlebury Public Library at 30 Crest Road. Light refreshments will be served. Additional presentations may be offered in February.
The entire Capital Plan Update is available online for anyone who will be unable to attend these presentations or would like to review the plan beforehand. See it by going here: tinyurl.com/y7ymtyqb.
Using a Power Point presentation complete with maps and photos, including those taken from a drone, St. John will review all the work that has been done thus far and answer any questions those attending may have. Earlier this year, he said of the completed work, “Our intent was to take care of areas that needed the most work done as quickly as we could get it done.”
Once he has reviewed the completed work, he will explain what still needs to be done. This also will be illustrated with color photos and maps. Further funding will be needed for this work, and voters will be asked to cast their votes on the new funding sometime this March. The presentations offer voters the opportunity to learn more about the questions that will be on the ballot and to ask any questions they need answered before they vote.
While nearly 18 miles, or 27 percent, of the town’s roads have been resurfaced, and 4.6 miles of roads have been crack sealed, more road work needs to be done. St. John said, “There are roads we have to get to in the next few years or the cost will be massive.”
The completed work includes building repairs, road work and tree work.
“The bigger, more expensive projects were done first,” St. John said. “The roof projects were massive.” He was referring to replacement of the 85-year-old tile roofs at Town Hall and Shepardson Community Center, two of the first projects undertaken. Contractors also cleaned and sealed the brick siding on each building, installed new gutters, gutter heat,and LED lighting, and made interior upgrades.
The presentation photos give an up-close view of the work that was done. They show roads before and after and also show road work in progress. They offer closeups (from the drone) of the roofs before and after, and give a good look at crumbling brickwork that needed repair.
They show the old overhead doors at the fire headquarters and the newly installed insulated overhead doors. They show the cracked pavement down at the Department of Public Works, the repaving project there, and removal of old underground fuel tanks and the installation of the new fuel depot. Also installed were new salt tanks.
See all this and more at the presentations. Much has been done thus far as part of the Capital Plan, but St. John said more remains to be done.
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