Essex County prepared to build better roads with less money

ELIZABETHTOWN | When the first modern roads were built, a layer of asphalt was thrown down over wagon trails, cowpaths or whatever had been serving as an artery of transport. When that pavement crumbled, another layer was thrown down over that. And so on. Now, particularly as the state is cutting back on its annual pot of local road funding due to the coronavirus, Essex County is looking to do more with less. That means a holistic approach to road construction that, along with repaving, beefs up the road's drainage and foundation, "so that we're not just painting it black," said Hugh Harwood, a senior engineering technician for the Essex County Department of Public Works. By paying attention to drainage, traffic weight and volume and the condition of the roadbed, the county believes it can make paving jobs last 60 to 70% longer than the standard 10-year benchmark, said Public Works Director Jim Dougan. "I think we can spend our money more wisely," he said. That's especially important this year, as the county estimates local governments could see their roads money from the state drop by as much as $1.6 million from last year's $5.2 million allocation. Stretching the highway dollars that are left begins with data collection. The Essex County Public Works Department knows a lot about road use from digital surveillance equipment that records traffic volume, weight and speed (one scofflaw hit 83 mph on rural Springfield Road between Wilmington and Upper Jay), which helps determine which roads are suffering the most punishment. The road to the Ticonderoga paper mill, for example, needs a heavier duty surface than local byways with scant traffic. Crews this year have also begun to bore down through the pavement to take core samples that tell the condition of the road's base. One thing they're looking for in particular is how well the new layers of pavement that have been applied over the decades are adhering to the old layers. The answer, usually, is not well. That means the new layer will float on the old layer, creating shifts that can crack or buckle the asphalt prematurely. To prevent this, crews now add a sticky adherent over the old asphalt before laying down the new. The added strength, Dougan said, can be visualized by thinking of two timbers that have been bolted together as opposed to acting independently. "For years and years asphalt just went down over what was already there," Dougan said. "We want to spend less money on asphalt and more money on the root of the disease." That also means improvement in drainage, particularly on roads that have been built over impervious soils such as clay and silt, said Cole Fernandez, a Public Works senior engineering tech. "The biggest issue we have is water," Fernandez said. It causes erosion in summer and frost heaves in winter, so added effort goes into ditching and diverting water away from the roadbed. With less damage to repair, "we can pave to build instead of paving to pave," Fernandez said. "That's the best way to improve the roads in the future."

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Essex County prepared to build better roads with less money

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