Pittsfield Preparing to Fix Potholes
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield is addressing the potholes in the city with two phases.
Every winter potholes appear throughout the county because of the harsh weather and cold temperatures; they often are unable to be filled fast enough and roads to become damaged.
Commissioner of Public Utilities Ricardo Morales addressed the concerns saying last week some temporary work on the roads will be done.
"It's going to be temporary work. Obviously, we, you know, none of the asphalt plants are open," Morales said.
Pittsfield gets asphalt from plants in Lenoxdale, Pittsfield, and West Sand Lake, N.Y. Morales said West Sand Lake's asphalt plant plans to open March 20 while the others have no dates set. Until then crews will be doing temporary work.
"There's no cooking of asphalt. You know, we have our asphalt recycler. It's a brand that's Bagela, so we call it the Bagela and we can cook up our own asphalt there when temperature allows," he said. "It doesn't work in weather that's too cold, and we have hot boxes to transport the material, once it's cooked, to where the potholes are."
Those hot boxes hold about 1.5 tons each and Morales said they can potentially do 6 tons of potholes a day. But it's only a temporary fix because it's not proper asphalt from a plant; it's something they mix themselves with the Bagela recycler.
Doing this work is Phase 1 of Pittsfield's plan to fix the potholes. Phase 2 begins once asphalt plants are open and crews will be covering potholes on the weekdays if weather permits.
"This year, we're going to be very busy on the roads," Morales said.
The work slated for this year is road resurfacing projects. The city of Pittsfield announced crews will be paving at these locations.
• South Street from South Mountain Road to West Housatonic Street
• North Street from Berkshire Medical Center to Lanesborough town line
• East Street from Lyman Street to Merrill Road
• First Street
• Lyman Street once Berkshire Gas completes their underground utility work
• Valentine Road once the water line replacement project is complete
Morales also mentioned a boost in state Chapter 90 road funding. The city usually get around $1.3 million and this year is expected to receive around $1.9 million. Gov. Maura Healey filed a bill earlier this year authorizing the borrowing of $1.5 billion over the next five years for local transportation networks. The bill includes another $100 million in Chapter 90, a 50 percent increase.
The city asks that residents report potholes through the PittSMART online reporting system or send an email to dpw@cityofpittsfield.org to efficiently track their progress during their work.
Tags: potholes,
