Massive Work for Welch Road

BLENHEIM - At last week’s Blenheim Town Board meeting, members heard remarks from an enormous project on Welch Road from Highway Superintendent Andy Graves.

Superintendent Graves recently surveyed the road, looking for trees that were encroaching two to three feet from the shoulder as they could damage the pavement or disrupt traffic, and discovered much more work than he initially thought.

By his estimations, there are a minimum of seventy one trees that must be brought down with an additional eighty that must be trimmed of overhanging branches.

At first, Superintendent Graves was willing to consider the idea of renting equipment and having the highway crew chip the trees themselves when the weather permits, but the rest of the Board was hesitant to sign off.

“You have enough on your plate,” said Town Supervisor Don Airey. “This is only going to add more projects.”

And as far as other projects are concerned, the Town had not budgeted for this kind of work this year. Additionally, trees are not covered under the CHIPS fund.

This would mean that any expenses spent toward these trees would likely come out of the road repair budget line for this year, causing that to compete with simultaneous projects for funding.

However, that revelation wasn’t the end of Welch Road’s woes. Superintendent Graves also brought up the fact that the entire road will have to be raised for proper ditching.

As he explained during the meeting, the road is so flat that when it rains, the water stagnates and simply sits on top of the pavement, gradually eroding and eating away at what’s underneath.

In order to achieve runoff, the highway department would have to build up a crowned center. Luckily, that portion of the Welch Road repair could be covered under CHIPS.

With both of these aspects combined, Superintendent Graves noted that it would not be possible to finish the proposed project by the end of the year.

“We’re still trying to recover roads and our equipment from winter damage,” he stated, pointing to other work the department is doing.

However, the Board seemed to be in agreement about doing some preliminary scouting, and members advised Superintendent Graves to use the Town’s contacts to speak with potential contractors and field prices.