The State of Amherst’s Roads is Fair.  Town Faces $42 Million Repair Backlog

Report on the Meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee, March 20, 2025

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Andy Steinberg (Chair, at large), George Ryan (District 3), Jennifer Taub (District 4), and Bob Hegner (District 5). Absent: Hala Lord (District 3)

Staff: Jason Skeels (Town Engineer), Paul Bockelman (Town Manager), Guilford Mooring (Superintendent of Public Works)

Recent Survey Shows Slight Deterioration in Amherst Roads
Town Engineer Jason Skeels gave a report on the recent data collected about the state of all 103.5 miles of Amherst’s roads by StreetScan, a company that mounts 3-D cameras on a car and drives every road in town to assess its condition. The previous study was done in 2021 and showed the average road was in fair condition with a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) of 65. This year’s average PCI was slightly less at 62, but still in the fair range. The estimated backlog of repairs in 2021 was $49 million. Because the town has adopted less expensive methods of doing repairs, the backlog estimate for 2025 was $42 million, but there was a notable increase in roads that are in very poor condition to a total of 29%.

Skeels said that state Chapter 90 funds have been fairly stable at $850,000 per year since 2012. The latest governor’s budget predicts a 40% increase for 2026. The town devotes about a million dollars each year for road and sidewalk repairs.

The DPW bases its five-year paving plan on the data StreetScan collects. The 762 roads in town are graded on a scale of 0 to 100 PCI, with 0-10 indicating a failed road, 10-25 serious, 25-40 very poor, 40-55 poor, 55-70 fair, 70-85 good, and 85-100 excellent. The worst sign is alligator cracking, so the road looks like an alligator skin, which means it’s getting close to rapidly moving toward failure and a couple more winters for it to be a completely failed road where it is a patchwork of patches and holes.

Arterials receive priority for repair because they are the roads that are used the most, but they also degrade the fastest. Skeels said the town can’t keep up with local roads that are mostly used only by those who live on the street. He said that many of them have not been repaved since they were built.

Roads with a PCI of 0-40 require a full-depth reconstruction which costs at least $100 per square yard, even more on a main street that has manholes and crosswalks. With a PCI of 40-70, the DPW does a mill and overlay, which costs about $25 per square yard. Roads that only need crack sealing or surface treatment cost about $1 per square yard. A computer program generates repair suggestions and guides the DPW plan for road repair. To repair all roads with a PCI of less than 30, Skeels estimates would cost nearly $6 million.

Recently, the DPW has started using a method called cape sealing for roads in relatively good condition, but in danger of deteriorating rapidly. The method was used recently on South Pleasant Street and West Street. There is a layer of liquid asphalt put down, followed by chip seal (rough pebbles) that are then smoothed after setting for a few weeks. This method is less expensive than a full reconstruction and seems to hold up for up to 10 years.

West Bay Road Tops the List for Repair this Year.
The roads in greatest need of repair are in the downtown area—North Pleasant Street from Kellogg Avenue to Cowles Lane, but Skeels said that reconstruction will be delayed until the Downtown Design Standards are completed. After North Pleasant Street are Pomeroy Lane between Coach and Carriage Lanes, College Street east of South Whitney, East Pleasant Street between Pray and Triangle Streets, and Maplewood Drive.

The first road slated for repair this season, however, is not on the list of the worst roads. “West Bay Road,” Skeels said, “has deteriorated much faster than the model curve. We overlaid it about four or five years ago and it’s the traffic there that is just beating it up–the traffic, the dddshade, and the freeze-thaw cycles. We patch it one day and the volume and weight of traffic driving over it just beats the potholes back into it again and splashes the new asphalt out. It’s just a chronic maintenance headache. We have to do a more permanent fix, because it’s endlessly falling apart, and we think we’ve been out there probably six or seven different times this year, and I get a call within a week after.” He said the road will get a full-depth reclamation with asphalt injection that gives a nice sub-base as well as a good smooth top.

Other roads on this year’s list are Pomeroy Lane and South Pleasant Street near Main Street near the North Common. These projects will involve redoing the sidewalks as well. The major limitation for what work gets done is the amount of money available.

Sidewalks on Chestnut, North Whitney, and West Street Scheduled for Repair
Skeels said that it costs about $20,000 for StreetScan to survey Amherst’s streets, but it would cost about $50,000 to do the same for the sidewalks. Therefore, the town relies more on a complaint driven system to determine which sidewalks should be fixed. The DPW tries to redo about a mile of sidewalks every year.

One of the projects for this year is the sidewalk along Chestnut Street near the middle school. Skeels said that the sidewalk is not in bad shape, but it is below grade, so it is a “skating rink” all winter. The town will also add a short sidewalk between 180 North Whitney Street and Skillings Trail, a route that many high schoolers take to school. Also, the pedestrian bridge over the Fort River on Mill Lane will be replaced by a sidewalk along West Street with ADA ramps.

The deteriorating brick crosswalks on South Pleasant Street near Amherst College will be replaced with thermoplastic imprint that resembles brick, but is much more durable. This is the type of crosswalk that crosses Amity Street in front of the Jones Library. Skeels was unsure whether Amherst College will do the work on the crosswalks or employ the town to do it.

The town has community development block grant funds to repair the sidewalk on both sides of North Pleasant Street between Fisher Street and Hobart Lane. There is also the MassWorks grant for the roundabout at the Amity Street—University Drive intersection, which the town has begun designing.

Skeels said he keeps a wish list of other roads that he would love to do if the money was there.

Old Water and Sewer Mains to Be Replaced
The town is replacing water and sewer mains that contain lead and copper, which means that they are over 100 years old. The DPW also tries to fix water and sewer pipes before roads are paved. Replacing the lines along Amity Street will require closing one-lane for about six months, but Skeels said the town will coordinate the work with the colleges and UMass to avoid busy times for visitors.

Use “See, Click, Fix” for Potholes
Superintendent of Public Works Guilford Mooring recommended that residents who observe potholes use the “see, click, fix” app on the town website to report them. Until the asphalt plants open in the spring, the town is using hot box patches to repair the potholes. This is not as durable a repair as using poured asphalt.

Mooring cautioned that the department will not respond to anyone using profanity on the app or in phone calls. The DPW will take care of the problem, but will not respond to the person who made the request. He urged the public to be respectful of the town’s employees.

In response to Jennifer Taub’s (District 4) question of whether road repairs would be more affordable if Amherst joined with neighboring towns to form a consortium, Mooring replied that Amherst gets a good price on paving because of its proximity to UMass. Companies are willing to fit Amherst jobs in between jobs at UMass. The consortium model is more useful to smaller towns.

Funds Requested to Develop Designs for South East Street Near Fort River
The DPW has requested $260,000 from the Joint Capital Planning Committee to develop alternative designs for improving traffic flow near the new elementary school on South East Street. TSO has discussed several possibilities to redesign the street: an elongated intersection incorporating the East Street access road, a peanut roundabout, and a student pedestrian entrance off of Main Street, among others. Mooring said the town needs to know how much of a corridor is needed for cars. He said the traffic lights store data about traffic, but he would like some alternative designs for remodeling the street that would be presented to the Town Council.

TSO member George Ryan (District 3) asked if it would not be better to wait until after the school opens in the fall of 2026 to see what the traffic situation is, but Mooring said that waiting another year for a design would further delay the work. He recommended creating possible designs as soon as possible.