Politics & Government

The $5 Million Tolland Roads List

Voters may decide this November if Tolland should bond $5 million for road improvements.

The question of additional funding for Tolland roads is up in the air.

, the town council is considering adding a referendum question to the ballot this November: should Tolland bond $5 million to jumpstart road improvements?

The town council has only set a public hearing to consider adding the referendum question, so nothing has been decided yet.

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However, the Public Works Department has released a proposed bonding road plan (attached above), listing what roads would be fixed and maintained with the $5 million.

"The bonding would put you five years ahead in the road plan," said Public Works Director Clem Langlois, Jr. 

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He said that if the bonding plan is put to referendum and approved by voters, the town would distribute the funds over three to five years to fix the roads listed in the above plan. This money would be in addition to the average of $500,000 a year that the town currently devotes to road maintenance and improvements.

Many of the roads that are included in the proposed list are not , since taxpayers get the most bang for their buck from maintaining the healthier roads than pouring all the resources into one in terrible condition.

For example, it is estimated that it will cost the town $163,000 to repave a quarter mile of Doyle Road, which has a Pavement Condition Index of 39, while another road ranked at 84 will cost $11,000 to maintain. 

"The way pavement management works, you pave your good roads first," Langlois explained. Currently, the town has an average Pavement Condition Index score of 71, with 100 being a road that's in perfect condition.

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Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc ranked all 132 miles of Tolland's roads back in 2009.

Roads that are traveled more heavily are also given priority, Langlois said.

He did add that the list is not final; if a certain road is heavily damaged after a severe winter, it will take the place of another road.

And every single road that is repaved will first have any drainage problems fixed. Langlois explained that Tolland's drainage system has not been properly maintained in the past, leaving it in "rough shape."

Without good drainage, roads are prone to problems like sinkholes and water damage. 

The town council will hold the referendum bonding public hearing at its next meeting, Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m.


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