Local Government in Connecticut, Third Edition

14. Public Works

ChApTEr 14 Public Works In the early days of Connecticut, selectmen were often elected on the basis of their knowledge of roads, bridges, and drainage. In the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth, public works directors were often engineers, focused on physical public infrastructure. The proper design, construction, and maintenance of these “public works” were vital, particularly in communities that did not have direct access to water for transportation. Those communities relied on ground transportation alternatives to get their goods to market, for social and community relations, and for responding to community emergencies. In the second half of the twentieth century the growth in the complexity of modern municipal management expanded the role of public works beyond just roads, bridges, and drainage to encompass parks, grounds, municipal and school buildings, trash collection and disposal, and water and sewage systems. While many public works directors are still engineers , the trend is toward directors with more in-depth understanding of management practices and operational strategies, traits that go beyond mere engineering skills. In fact, the municipal engineer today is just as likely to be head of the engineering division and work under a public works director. Roads and Bridges The road system in Connecticut follows the national standards agreed upon by the Federal Highway Administration, comprising a combination of federal primary (interstate system), federal secondary (US Routes), state, and municipal roads. The federal primary (red, white, and blue shield) or interstate system (also known as the National Defense Highway System) encompasses those multilane highways such as Interstates 84, 91, and 95 that connect the various states together. Built after World War II, interstate highways were paid for by the federal government, but constructed and maintained using federal funds through the individual states. As with all route numbering, the highways that are odd numbered (I-91 and I-95 in Connecticut) go north and south, with low numbers starting in the west (California, Oregon, and Washington) and working east (I-95 goes from publiC works in ThE TwEnTy-FirsT CEnTury Municipal public works departments are no longer just concerned with roads, bridges, and drainage. Increasingly such things as parks, grounds, municipal and school buildings, trash collection and disposal, and water and sewage systems are under the department of public works’ purview. A community may have hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars tied up in vehicles, equipment, and the personnel to maintain them. Public Works 95 Florida to Maine). Those highways that go east to west are even numbered (I-84) and work their way northward from the southern part of the United States to the north. Spurs (I-384) or connectors (I-295) have three digits. The federal secondary system (black-and-white U.S. shield) used to be the primary system until the interstate system was constructed. Some of the federal secondary highways in Connecticut include US Routes 1, 6, 7, 44, and 202. The federal secondary network has the same numbering-configuration system but is reversed, starting in the east and moving west as the country developed. State routes in Connecticut (black numbers on a white square) are also numbered west to east for north-south highways, and south to north for east-west highways. Local roads and streets are “named” but may also have a number assigned by local communities to aid in mapping and using geographical information systems (GIS). Owing to the age of many older roads in Connecticut (some several hundred years old) maintenance and renovation tend to dominate public-works department activities where roads are concerned. Road surfaces in Connecticut are predominantly asphalt based with varying levels of different types of aggregate designed to wear better. Because asphalt is oil based, the amount of maintenance has become, in the last twenty years or so, cost driven by the price of oil. While the State of Connecticut through the Town Aid Road (TAR) grant helps offset some of the cost of road maintenance and resurfacing, the bulk of the cost is borne by the municipalities themselves. Accordingly, maintenance emphasis has been dominated not by total resurfacing of roads but by such techniques as crack sealing, blanket patching, and the use of various kinds of cold patches, all designed to extend for as long as possible the useful life of the last resurfacing. Where extensive renovation or rehabilitation of an existing street or road is needed the opportunity may exist for recycling the pavement surface. This process involves grinding the existing surface, adding additives and heating...