Concord General Services has developed a Neighborhood Street Paving Program to refocus road paving efforts to local Concord streets.
Due to the recent recession, the city of Concord previously was only able to make significant investments in Concord’s major arterial roads, but now is able to move forward to invest in local neighborhood streets.
The city has made significant investments over the last 10 years into the community’s major arterial roads, such as Langley Parkway, Manchester Street, Regional Drive, North State Street, Fisherville Road, Village Street, Clinton Street, Broadway and Main Street.
The fiscal year 2016 budget, approved by the mayor and city council, includes an updated Neighborhood Street Paving Program with streets scheduled for paving prioritized by pavement conditions and frequency of use. The program is predicated on a 25-year paving cycle since neighborhood streets have a life expectancy of 25-30 years.
A road’s life is maintained through various methods of repair. When rebuilding a road, pavement reclamation is performed by breaking up and mixing the existing asphalt to create a stronger base foundation for the road. The recycled product is compacted and three inches of new pavement is placed on top. To maintain that road, a shim overlay is performed about 5-10 years later. A shim overlay adds an additional one-inch layer of asphalt over the existing surface to strengthen the original structure and extend the life of the road. As the road starts to depreciate another 5-10 years later, the road may begin to crack. The most cost-effective way to maintain the lifespan of the road is to fill the cracks with hot asphalt to prevent water from entering through the road and creating further damage. If the road conditions worsen over the next 5-10 years, cold planing can be done to remove parts of the pavement by asphalt milling.
The removed parts are recycled for future projects and the road is then shimmed with a layer of pavement. Another 1.5 inches of pavement is added to maintain the strength of the road for the final years of its life cycle.
Concord General Services’ paving contractor, Continental Paving, is in the middle of paving initiatives for Sundance Road, Quail Ridge Road, Blevens Drive and Silk Farm Road (from Clinton Street to the Bow town line). Continental Paving has pulled curb and finished reclaiming last week. They will be fine grading and paving the roads over the next couple of weeks.
Once they have base paved the roads, they will re-set the granite curbing and raise catch basins or manhole covers to grade. Finished paving of these streets will occur next spring/summer.
The Neighborhood Street Paving Program will enhance the safety, appeal and overall conditions of our local streets.
“These residential streets are what connect our community. This is an investment that needs to be made,” said Chip Chesley, Director of Concord General Services.
Find more information about the program and the streets that are projected for paving for fiscal year 2016 and 2017 at concordnh.gov/pavingplan.
Angelina Bossone
