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Town Road Commissioner warns of aging culverts, sinkholes and maintenance backlog
Summary
Road Commissioner Dave Sears reported multiple culvert failures, recent sinkholes and an inventory showing over 700 culverts; limited contractor time means only about 10% were cleared during a recent cleanup week and the department will seek budget solutions to accelerate work.
Dave Sears, the town road commissioner, told the Select Board on Oct. 22 that post‑road sidewalk work revealed a culvert failure and related sinkhole near Monette Terrace and that the town repaired several culverts and paved affected areas.
Sears said last fall the town inventoried more than 700 culverts and that an earlier one‑week contractor effort (cost: about $12,000) cleaned roughly 70 of them—approximately 10% of the inventory. He warned the board that many culverts are galvanized installations from the 1970s and are reaching the end of their service life; some will need replacement in the spring. The commissioner said the department is currently reactive—fixing sinkholes as they appear—and recommended that the board consider budget adjustments or carryover funding to increase inspection and replacement capacity.
Sears also described manhole maintenance, a recent sewer plug requiring jetting, and plans to borrow confined‑space equipment from neighboring crews to remove debris in some inverts next week. Board members discussed whether carryover funds could be used for a larger, contracted effort to inspect and clear culverts more quickly.
Next steps: Road commissioner to pursue budget proposals for increased culvert work in the upcoming budget process and to schedule spring replacement work for the most critical culverts.
