The alternating street work schedule was recently explained by Holbrook City Manager Ray Alley, who noted that weather is fueling the choice of work sites.
Work on Erie Street could not be completed prior to the start of school as Alley had initially hoped. The delay was in part due to weather. He explained that the drainage along Erie Street is not good and the clay soil there makes work impossible when it is wet. As a result, crews are shifted to other jobs when the soil is too wet for work to continue.
Most recently, street work has alternated between Erie Street and the roads around the LDS church on Spurlock Hill. Alley explained that Erie Street is the main focus and he wants to complete it soon, but when it rains staff members move to work on the Spurlock Hill streets since the sandy soil there drains quickly. Once the soil near Erie Street is dry enough for work to resume, crews move back and resume the project.
The work on Erie includes replacing the old asphalt with new concrete. The old surface is being removed one block at a time, one strip at a time, and concrete poured in its place as quickly as weather allows.
Repairs are being funded in part by increased Highway User Revenue Funds (HURF) distributed to the city. Holbrook officials expect to receive approximately $604,000 in HURF funds this fiscal year, up by more than $20,000 from last year. While the increase does not return the funding to pre-recession levels, it is an improvement over the decreases seen in the funding over the last few years.
In addition to HURF funding, street work is also possible thanks to voters approving an increased spending limit for the city. The city’s expenditure limit is governed by state law, which is based on 1977 funding levels. Without voter approval, the city could not have spent the full amount available for street work. Local voters chose to override those limits, however, and allow the city to set its own budget based on anticipated revenues.
