Kingston road agent to present prioritized paving plan after New Boston Road work; board discusses limited budget

Kingston's road agent told the Select Board the town's upcoming paving season will be dominated by work on New Boston Road, and he will provide the board a prioritized plan of other roads that may receive treatment depending on remaining funds.

Tom Rowan, the town's road agent, said the contractor coordination and material scheduling mean the "lion's share" of the paving budget will go to New Boston Road: "the lion's share of New Boston Road has to be done," he said, adding paving is expected to start in mid-June once school is out and coordination with the neighboring town of Newton is completed.

Rowan told the board that with the current budget the highway department can fully resurface only a small fraction of the town's more than 60 miles of roads. "If everyone supports me next year and asking for $1,450,000 paving budget, we wouldn't have these problems," he said, describing constrained funding that will likely repave two or so miles at current funding levels. For many roads the department expects to use crack-sealing and chip-seal treatments to extend pavement life where a full overlay is not practical.

Board members asked Rowan to prepare a triage plan that identifies roads most at risk of failure, options for crack sealing versus resurfacing, and an estimated cost schedule so the board can consider reallocations or supplemental requests. Rowan said he will return with a prioritized list and cost estimates and emphasized the town can increase its crack-seal budget if conditions and demand require it.

The board did not adopt new funding at the meeting; members asked staff to add the road-priority plan to a future agenda and expected Rowan to return to the board with a proposed scope and costs.