Hi folks
We have shoulder width repaving inconsistency in progress!!
I was just down on rt. 116 tonight on the stretch between Bristol
and E. Middlebury. If you check out the stretch between White
Rock Sports, 1 mi. S. of rt. 117 intersection to the one way bridge
with the traffic light, you will notice that they have done a shoulder
treatment with gravel and then done a first coat of paving over the
whole road, except they left roughly the 9 inches, on average, of
gravel unpaved. This is clearly road width that the state feels they
can maintain as road surface, but the contractor (F.W. Whitcomb)
has chosen not to repave it. To see the inconsistency, take a look
at the stretch south of the bridge to where the Notch Road turns off
to the left. Here the gravel treatment was applied to the shoulders,
but the first coat of pavement covers all of the gravel treatment and
goes all the way to the grass.
Where they paved the entire gravel treatment, the shoulder width is
much more comfortable for the cyclist. In the narrow shouldered
region N. of the 1-way bridge, the shoulder is about 3 or 4 inches in
places, with available room and road gravel to make it at least a
foot. Note that this work is all part of the same paving project that
has been underway for the last week or two, and they can't even do
it consistently.
This is the time to be doing something about this kind of hap-
hazard workmanship on our road shoulders. At the very least, this
should be clearly documented for next year's legislative session
when Karen Kitzmiller dusts off her "road shoulder bill" for further
consideration. Better yet, if some of the folks on this list know the
stings to pull, this inconsistency can be cleared by the time the
final coat of pavement is laid by Whitcomb.
