Department of Public Works

About

General information about the Department of Public Works:

The Department of Public Works maintains a total of sixty-four miles of Class 5 roads; fifty-five miles are paved roads, nine miles are graveled roadways. Many of these roads have over two hundred years of history. Traffic and vehicle loads have changed dramatically within the last seventy-five years.

Each year your five-man crew performs three different types of road maintenance: routine, preventative, and reconstruction.
Routine maintenance include trimming brush away from the road edge, cleaning the ditch line, cleaning culverts and replacing culverts in disrepair. In addition, the crew inspects and replaces signage, posts and guardrails as needed.

Over four thousand feet of culvert pipe are in need of some type of repair. Winter ice problems (water backing up on roads), frost heaves, age of the road and the existing culvert pipe are factors that contribute to the need for routine maintenance and future road reconstruction. The crew replaced over one thousand feet of culvert pipe in each of the last four years.

Each year we evaluate several miles of paved road according to the town's Five-Year Master Road Plan for reconstruction based on condition, traffic load, geography, and other factors. The paving contract goes to bid in early March. We use some crushed gravel for road reconstruction, culvert replacement and dirt road improvements. All road reconstruction preparation is done with Town of Rindge equipment.

Winter maintenance varies from year to year depending on the type of precipitation, amounts and the time of day it arrives. Please for your own safety, do not tailgate emergency equipment and slow down when approaching snow removal equipment.

The Board of Selectmen have adopted a snow and ice policy detailing the department's guidelines and procedures regarding winter operations. Copies of this policy are available at the Town Office.

Please install mailboxes as far out of the right-of-way as possible. Most often snow from the plow and not the plow itself is responsible for damage.