Residents Voice Support for Metcalf Road Paving

The majority of residents at Thursday's public hearing supported the town's plan to pave the 2,300-foot dirt portion of Metcalf Road.

"Metcalf as a milling project, that was not successful," said resident Nicholas Capaldi of the road's most recent improvement attempt. The unpaved portion of Metcalf Road has been riddled with potholes, wash outs and generally poor conditions.

Public Works Director Clem Langlois, Jr. said that he held the meeting with residents on and near the road to get input on the project, which was approved as part of the town's 2010-2011 capital plan budget. He said it has been delayed as the road's drainage and catch basins were installed.

"My goal is eventually to get rid of the dirt roads. It costs too much to maintain them, and they fill up all the wetlands with silt," Langlois said at the meeting.

He said that the town spends $35,000 each year, without storm damage, to simply buy supplies for the town's nine miles of dirt roads. He said it will cost about $32,000 to pave the dirt section of Metcalf Road.

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If the present town council approves the project, Langlois said that paving should begin in early September. Driveway aprons will be installed to prevent any drainage issues. He said that Johnson Road is the next dirt road on his list to be paved.

The budget to pave the dirt roads is separate from the to repair Tolland's paved roads.

Residents who were opposed to the paving at the meeting said that speeding could potentially increase once the road is paved, and that the paving destroys the "rural character" of the area.

Langlois said that it would take approximately a week to pave the road.