COLRAIN — East Colrain Road has come to the attention of town officials many times since it was resurfaced in 2019. In a Selectboard meeting last week, complaints emerged once again, this time regarding dust.
“All the residents on the road are suffering,” said Greg Olchowski, a resident of East Colrain Road. “A car goes by and you get a rooster tail 80 feet high of dust.”
In 2019, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments obtained 15,000 tons of material called reclaimed asphalt pavement or hardpack, a gravel-like material that is made from ground-up pavement. However, the material was found to contain metal fragments, leading to numerous flat tires and eventually a road closure.
In September 2019, Colrain officials reached a settlement with Northeast Paving in which the company agreed to scarify the road, pick up the metal fragments using a magnetic sweeper, remove an existing pile of hardpack and replace it with new material. The company also agreed to pay the town $15,000, according to the Selectboard’s meeting minutes of Sept. 9, 2019.
“This section of the road could have been done better,” Selectboard Chair Mike Slowinski said at the most recent Selectboard meeting.
According to the same meeting notes from 2019, residents asked the Selectboard about the increase of dust on East Colrain Road. This problem was not addressed at the time. Olchowski brought the road’s dust problems to the board’s attention once again.
Olchowski suggested resurfacing the road.
“Someone must have tested the material,” he said. “How it could pass the litmus test of being hardpack quality, I don’t know.”
Slowinski said concerned residents have to bring the dust problem to the Board of Health to address next steps.
The increased dust on rural roads is particularly common during this period of severe drought, but the dust on East Colrain Road has been an issue for residents for much longer than the drought period the state is now facing.
“It’s been three years,” Olchowski said. “It has come to the point where something has to be done.”
Contact Bella Levavi at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.