Last week, the Essex Public Works Department prepped the roads and cleared out puddles from recent thunderstorms, paving the way to...well, paving the way. From where North Main Street ends and River Road begins all the way to the town line, teams have chip sealed Dennison Road and River Road this week, fixing minor cracks and potholes. It’s all part of an ongoing town project to restore Essex’s roads damaged by rough weather.

“The Public Works director and I reviewed the condition of the roads and had a list of roads that got severely damaged the winter before last,” said Essex First Selectman Norm Needleman. “We had a backlog of roads that had years taken off them because of the severity of that winter and we are trying to get caught up with that right now.”

Unfortunately, a snowy winter also exhausts town funds—the reason many of the repairs have waited so long.

“The winter before this we spent so much with plowing and sanding that we used up a lot of the Public Works budget and went over budget a certain amount,” Needleman said. “This past winter was milder so we had some money left over to repair the road.”

The construction on Dennison Road and River Road is not major.

“For roads in reasonably good shape, they do chip sealing,” said Needleman. “Instead of repaving over the top of the road, they go around and they seal all the cracks in the road that they can then spray an emulsion and put stone on top of that emulsion and roll that stone in. It’s a lot less expensive than milling and repaving and a lot less expensive than full-depth reclamation.”

More serious restoration is slated for a few other roads in town as the next phase of the project. From the end of August through early September, teams will perform milling and repaving on Bittersweet Lane, Book Hill Road, Hemlock Drive, Mares Hill Road, and Primrose Ledge.

Drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists should be alert for the loose stone involved in chip sealing. The town is posting a 15 mile per hour speed limit until the roads smooth down and the loose rock is swept up.

“As you drive on it, for the first couple weeks the loose stone gets thrown off to the side,” said Needleman. “It’s a bit rough for bikers, and walkers have to be a little more careful because the stone can come flying around.”

Although chip sealing can be completed in a single day, the effects should last for years—especially with this recent project on Dennison and River roads.

“The last couple times we chip sealed I opted to spend a little more money by getting finer stone so the finished product is much closer to being asphalt than rough stone,” said Needleman. “We tried to get the smallest stone we can rolled in there and it works very well. It extends the life of a road by 10 or 12 years.”

The stone should set by this Friday, Aug. 19, after which the roads will be swept. Until then, take caution while walking or cycling, and stick to the speed limit to reduce the risk of kicking up stones.