Above: Annual Town Meeting voters will be asked how much they want to invest in average road conditions for Southborough. (images from PMP Report)
Earlier this month, the Select Board got an update on road projects in town. I’m sharing details on the near term and long term plans for roads, sidewalks, and even crosswalk beacons.
For the purposes of the roadworks updates, I’m going to focus on the project status and not get into the financial details. But for the long term planning, the focus is the projected costs Town Meeting will face when voting on maintaining/improving roads for the next five years.
Most of the details below are from the update by DPW Superintendent Bill Cundiff on July 1st — the discussion and memos in the board’s packet. Some are from prior public meetings, and additional details were in materials linked to Cundiff’s memos.
Sinkhole Repairs
Central Street and John Street Sinkholes: The designs and Conservation permitting are complete for fixing these road sections. Bidding is underway and construction expected to begin in coming months.
Initially, the project included Mitchell Street. A drainage pipe that runs under a retaining wall drove up the costs. Since that road condition isn’t as poor, they’ll just fix the lower portion of the street at the John St intersection, then go up John St from there. The Mitchell St culvert will have to be dealt with in the future at some point but is not on this year’s list.
Willow Street and Northborough Road: Pare Engineering is working on the design and Conservation Commission permitting for projects to fix the sinkholes. Design for Willow St is about 75% complete. A construction contract should be awarded by December. Northboro Rd is at 50% design completion and sediment sampling will be done alongside Willow Street’s. (It wasn’t clear when construction is targeted for this project.)
Paving Projects
Pine Hill Road
According to Cundiff, this is the road the DPW receives the most complaints about. (About a call per week.) Looking at the Pavement Management Report, it scored an RSR of 44.26, well below the “passing” score of 70-75. (I’ll explain more about the RSR under the 5 Year Management Plan further down in this post.)
The goal for this year is to repave the worst sections: the southern section from the Framingham Town line up to Nicholls, and then “hop, skip and jump over that middle section” to pave the northern section from the stream crossing up to Parmenter. Those are the road sections that have “very little utilities and catch basins and not much opportunity for sidewalks”. In the future, they can look at addressing sidewalks in the middle section.
Cundiff also acknowledged that residents have asked for speed humps. He said it was “on the table” to talk about.
Lovers Lane
Surveying is underway in preparation for designing a planned water main replacement. Road improvements (like fixing the width of the right of way) may be incorporate. He didn’t forecast construction. That may depend on finalization of the agreement with Hopkinton for the water interconnection project. (The Select Board asked Hopkinton to pay for this project along with several other water infrastructure projects as an incentive for voters to support the water connection project to benefit our neighbors.)
FY26 Paving Program
Cundiff said he was doing an analysis to make sure he can fund the full scope of roads targeted for paving. (Available funds are a combination of the amount approved at Annual Town Meeting and the state’s Chapter 90 funds allocated for Southborough.)
Currently targeted roads include Parmenter Road, Edmunds Road, Waveny Road, Acre Bridge Road, portions of Pine Hill Road (as detailed above), Cordaville Road, and Northboro Road (between Main Street and Johnson Road). These were prioritized based on poor road condition (scores received in the Pavement Management Plan), magnitude of usage, and their limited need for utility improvements (replacement of drainage pipes, water mains, etc). The last factor was to help get more “bang for the buck”.
Cundiff may decide he needs to expand or reduce the road scope before going out to bid. In addition to repaving, the contract may include additional surface treatments (like crack sealing, micro-sealing, and fog sealing).
Big “TIP” Road Projects
Two projects are on the MassDOT (Dept of Transportation) Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) list. The design and engineering costs are covered by the Town. But the state should eventually cover the construction costs.
The expectation is it will take 5-7 years to get to the construction phase for these:
Framingham Road / Marlboro Road TIP Project
Cordaville Road TIP Project
Select Board member Tim Fling asked Cundiff if the delay meant the roads had enough of a life span left to wait for the state process. Cundiff responded that they are actually in such rough shape that the Town will need to do some repair work in the interim. He’s looking at “some low level treatment to kind of smooth them out”. (As noted above, Cordaville Road is on the list of roads targeted for FY26 paving.)
But Cundiff explained that the state support through TIP is worth the wait. The TIP projects will result in “essentially a new road” through the state money instead of local funds.
Sidewalk and Crosswalk Projects
Designs were completed for three sidewalk installation projects:
- Richards Road Sidewalk: from Cordaville to Woodland
- Woodland Road Sidewalk: from Richards Road to Oregon Road
- Oak Hill Road Sidewalk: from 38 Oak Hill to Oregon Road
Those that needed Conservation Commission approval have received it. Cundiff hopes to put all three out to bid this fall, pending available funding. First the projects will go through the Scenic Roads permitting process with the Planning Board this summer.
Parkerville Road Sidewalk: from 1-90 to Middle Road
This project wasn’t as far along, though it is expected to also go through Scenic Road permitting this summer. As of Cundiff’s update, the DPW was still checking if Conservation Commission permitting is required for this project. Pending available funding, the contract will be advertised in the spring.
RRFB Pedestrian Curb Ramp Upgrades – Multiple Locations
MassDOT is providing free Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at crosswalks to some cities and towns. (See example right from a Facebook post.)
Southborough has completed designs and applied for beacons at the following crosswalks: two crossings for Woodward School and one each to Finn School, downtown Main Street (near Mauro’s Café), Fay School, and St. Mark’s School.
The Town is waiting for the state’s decision. If awards are granted for crosswalks at the private school locations, the Town will only accept the beacons if the schools pay for their installation.
Long Term Planning
5-Year Pavement Management Plan
The Town previously adopted a Pavement Management Plan system to record and score road conditions and determine priorities for fixing the roads.
According to Cundiff, the town’s roads currently average a Road Surface Rating (RSR) of 72.40 on a scale of 0-100, where 70-75 is considered passing. He followed, “of course, it depends on what road you’re on. Some might be an F.”
Below is a look at the map of conditions throughout town. (To zoom in for more detail, open the pdf here.) Plus, from the report, examples of extreme ends of the scale:
Cundiff’s goal is to invest in raising the RSR average, then see a savings in maintaining the roads. He explained that roads that deteriorate are the most expensive to repair since they require milling and overlay or full depth reclamation. He asserted that if you put lower level treatments on roads that are in better shape, you can extend the life of the roads.
Cundiff estimated that an annual investment of $850,000 per year is needed to maintain the current RSR for the next five years. Cutting that annual cost to $428,000 would lower the average to 70. Improving the average to approx. 75 by 2028 is projected as costing $1.25M per year.
He is planning on bringing options to Annual Town Meeting, allowing the voters to decide what level they want to fund.
In advance of the official vote, he plans to hold public forums to educate the public and get feedback.
You can read more details in Cundiff’s memo here. And you can look at the details for the road conditions, and the consultant’s analysis in the report here.
Other Long Term Road Expense Issues
Culvert Issues
No mention was made of the expenses anticipated for the many culverts that will need repairs in coming years.
Road problems caused by culverts that have already failed/are failing would be captured in the road report. But the report may not have captured how many of the culverts are on the verge of failing in coming years.
Cundiff has previously informed the board that due to the number of old corrugated metal culverts under town roads, and the timing of when many were installed, he anticipates many to fail over the next 15 years. The engineering costs alone for replacing those has been high.
To help the DPW check conditions of the culverts/drainage pipes under town roads, last year the Town entered an agreement with Hopkinton and Westborough to purchase a shared pipe camera inspection kit. A state grant to covered the regional expense. Last month, the DPW posted an update on Facebook showing that the new equipment was received and Southborough crews were training on its use:
Stormwater Management
Cundiff’s memo also didn’t mention the number of stormwater catch basins that he anticipates will need to be replaced within 5 years. That’s another looming expense he previously warned the board about. (This is a result of changing regulations.)
Analyzing the potential creation of a special enterprise fund to help cover those types of costs is one of the Select Board’s goals for this year.
