A $170,000.00 Band-aid for NG paved roads

A $170,000.00 Band-aid for NG paved roads

Administrator's Note: The following letter was written by a verified North Glastonbury landowner who wishes to remain anonymous. I added the title.
The Glastonbury Landowner's for Positive Change have sponsored many NG paved road walks. I attended two and photographed the failing crack seal conditions. Those photos will be shared along with a preliminary Glastonbury Road plan in late January of 2016. I urge all landowners to attend the next GLFPC road walk when the snow clears so they can see for themselves the sorry state the NG paved roads are in. Send the glastonburylandownersgroup@gmail.com an email to subscribe to their Glastonbury list and be notified when the next NG road walk takes place.

The NG landowner's letter follows:


Three months ago, in September 2015, the GLA hired Baily Paving of Belgrade at the cost of $8,498.00 to crack-seal the 3.2 miles of paved roads here in North Glastonbury. This was the second time in one year that this company had been under contract with the GLA to crack-seal the NG loop.

Three months later, the repairs done by these contractors have obviously failed.

As of December 23, 2015, the deterioration has extended over a one half mile stretch of Aries and Capricorn Roads. The new material applied just three months ago is brittle, lacking the elastomeric quality to ensure durability in our climate of extremes. The sealant applied to the countless cracks on our roads is fracturing and pulling away from the areas to which it had been applied. The noticeable width of the recently repaired fractures allows the water to penetrate underneath the already decomposing asphalt and deteriorate the insufficient dirt road base.

Landowners had previously documented that the soil underneath the 2+ inch thick, driveway-grade pavement had already been quite moist. When landowners easily lifted ribbons of tar and chucks of asphalt, they discovered the road base was incorrectly engineered. Professional, county standards require that the road base be constructed of at least nine inches of angular rock and gravel for effective drainage and durability. Thus, it is evident that whoever constructed the road base did not adhere to county standards.

To further compound these decomposing conditions, drainage ditches were never carved along the roadsides, enabling even more moisture to rapidly seep under the pavement, turning the moist dirt into mud and the asphalt into disrepair. Thus, extensive cracking and breaking continue to occur. A former road committee chairman stated that parts of the NG paved roads were both sinking and rising throughout. Our paved road is crumbling on the surface and disintegrating from beneath.

In September of 2014, the GLA had employed Bailey Paving at a cost of $17,840.00 to crack-seal these same 3.2 miles of road. Based on a cross-section of research, a number government reports, and analysis by professional road engineers, crack-sealing should last a minimum of two to four years before additional repairs are needed. On the day this work was performed, not one road committee member or GLA Board member was present to oversee this vital and costly process. Furthermore, the contract carried absolutely no warranty. Why did the crack-sealing repairs on the NG loop fail after just one year, and again in just three months?

The GLA has spent almost $38,000.00 in the last two and one half years to crack-seal the NG loop. Within just the last six years, the GLA has poured about $170,000.00 into a road that was shoddily constructed. How many more high-priced Band-aids will the GLA purchase with landowners’ money and stick onto the road?



It is time that the GLA Board make a serious effort to:

1) Thoroughly analyze the condition of the paved roads in NG with the assistance of a qualified road engineer.

2) Develop comprehensive short, medium and long term plans, also with the assistance of an expert, so that the landowners have an accurate and thorough assessment of future options and costs, along with information upon which to make informed decisions.

3) Stop repeating the costly and ineffective stop-gap mistakes of past road committees and boards by adopting suggestions 1 and 2 above.

For more information on how your assessments have been spent, please see the links below:

According to the 2015 Road Report presented at the annual meeting the recent crack-sealing was $8,498.00.

2015 Annual Meeting Road Report

The 2014 Road Report states that $17,840.00 was spent on crack-sealing NG loop.

2014 Annual Meeting Road Report

In 2009, $ 121,876.71 was spent on NG crack and chip-sealing (See # 2 in the link below)
In 2012, $14,000.00 was spent on crack sealing (See # 7 in the link below, 2013 Road Report)

2009 to 2012 NG Paved Road Expenses

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