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ANNUAL REPORT
2006-2007
STREET SERVICES DIVISION
The Street Services Division of the Public Works Department maintains the Town's road and drainage infrastructure. There are approximately 138 miles of road to sweep, repair potholes, remove snow, pick up leaves, line paint, repair signs and clean catch basins to name just some of the ongoing programs this Division performs annually. The employees of this Division strive to find more efficient ways to complete these tasks and deliver services to the residents of South Windsor.
The 2006/2007 snow season was managed by the elimination of the use of sand and using an all salt application or a treated salt application. The treated salt works faster at melting and is more effective at colder temperatures. This resulted in cleaner roads with less overtime and call backs to treat icy condition. It also led to a reduction in the amount of time spent working on the spring street sweeping program. The program took 21 days to accomplish in 2005-2006 and 10 days in 2006-2007. We will still need to sweep our streets annually in the spring because of dust and naturally occurring sediment. This also reduced the need to clean catch basins as often resulting in cost and time savings. The time we saved street sweeping allowed us to complete other spring programs earlier than expected, such
as curb and lawn damage repair from snow plowing activities. This further allowed us to complete a late spring road resurfacing project on a one-half mile section of Foster Street.
The Town advertised and went to bid for crack sealing services of various streets and parking lots. Crack sealing maintenance extends the longevity of the pavement surface and is recommended as the first defense against pavement deterioration. The Town has historically piggy backed the State bid Contract for much of its roadwork and did not bid out our own contracts; but in recent years there has been significant delays with several of the State awarded contracts or not contract at all. The Street Services Division is planning to have several of their own contracts awarded in the coming year. This will allow work to be scheduled and completed in a timely fashion freeing up more time to accomplish new drainage projects. The Division crack sealed 23 miles of road and the Community Center parking lots.
The new Town Garage building addition was completed in December of 2006. the offices of Streets, Parks and Fleet Services have relocated to the new improved facility from the temporary offices used during construction of the building addition. Besides updated office space the building contains anew larger lunch room and training room to house all of the department's employees, something the old building could no longer provide. There is a dedicated sign shop room to meet the Town's traffic control needs. The department is also pursuing the purchase of new equipment for the sign shop to keep up with the latest sign material available. The size of the service bays for the repair of the Town's vehicles has been enlarged to better facilitate its services. Heated work space was also enlarged for both Streets and
Parks.
ACTIVITY |
04-05 |
05-06 |
06-07 |
Road Surface Treatment Miles |
7.93 |
7.49 |
7.99 |
Street Sweeping Days |
38 |
21 |
10 |
Catch Basin Cleaning each |
3,657 |
4,421 |
799 |
Leaf Collection Cubic Yards |
22,035 |
24,108 |
19,500 |
Drainage Facilities Repaired |
78 |
109 |
81 |
Roadside Mowing Passes |
4 |
3 |
4 |
Miles of Road Plowed |
136 |
136 |
138 |
Number of Plow Routes |
19 |
19 |
19 |
Number of Storms |
19 |
10 |
12 |
Mark D. Owens
Street Services Manager
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