This report was modified at 4 pm on July 24 to make corrections and additions to information supplied following the meeting.

At one point during a July 16 Board of Selectmen's meeting, Selectman Jeff Capeci asked Public Works Director Fred Hurley how many miles of town roads would he would ideally like to see repaved this year.

Without missing a beat, Mr Hurley replied, "275," which happens to be the total number of local road miles under the local Highway Department's jurisdiction.

It is a safe bet that Mr Hurley's response mirrored what virtually every Newtown resident would likely say - along with thousands of others who regularly commute into or through the community.

Even First Selectman Dan Rosenthal agreed, telling his colleagues, the public works boss, and the dozen or so residents gathered for an unveiling of this year's planned road work schedule, the current condition of Newtown's roads is "unacceptable."

The first selectman then went on to admit that the expediency and efficiency by which he addresses the challenge of smoothing out most if not all of Newtown's pocked, potholed, and delaminated roadways could impact his own political approval rating.

"I don't get graded on intentions; I get graded on results," he said.

Mr Rosenthal also said while he is not satisfied with the limited quantity of roads the town could see improved before next July, he was confident that each of the avenues he shared on a project list would be done within the time frame and budget parameters made public that evening.

"I think an important first step is showing the plan," the first selectman said. "I'd rather under promise and over deliver - I don't love the list, but it's an important first step."

Both current Legislative Council member Ryan Knapp and former councilman Anthony Filiato (who served on an appointed Roads Committee during his elected tenure) expressed concerns.

After thanking selectmen for holding the forum, Mr Knapp prefaced his remarks saying he was not representing the council.

He then suggested "more transparency, better communication and accountability" about every aspect of developing, funding, prioritizing, and scheduling road work would go far toward relieving the ultimate frustration he said has grown pervasive among residents across town.

"Part of our role and responsibility is to verify, and that's difficult if we don't know what we're measuring," Mr Knapp said. "I think transparency can begin with clear written policies. What is our policy for maintenance, and how do we measure success?"

Mr Knapp additionally addressed bringing stakeholders together on non-town-owned roads, suggesting the town might conserve legal costs by addressing the issue in "one action, instead of doing it piecemeal through land use."

He closed by stating that the town could do a much better job "building public trust" and assuring residents that taxpayer dollars "are being spent on their highest best use."

Pave The Unpaved

Mr Filiato reminded selectmen that he lives on Washbrook Road, which he said is "partially paved," and stated he had a letter from the town dating back to when he bought the property assuring him the entire road would be paved.

"They did start paving it, and then it just stopped in front of my house - which is kind of bizarre," he said.

"I spent a year on the roads committee. The outcome and recommendations were to pave unpaved roads because they cost three times as much money [to maintain]," Mr Filiato said. "Looking at this list... I see none. Why are we wasting money? If we do it once and do it right, we can move on. We shouldn't be fixing any of these roads until there's no unpaved road in town."

After hearing from several other residents, all calling for their own roads and neighborhoods to be paved, Mr Hurley sat between the attendees and the selectmen with a map that illustrated the entire town road system, and the fractional number of roads planned for some type of repair or resurfacing this season were marked off in green.

Referring to a comment made earlier by a resident, the public works chief said while New Milford may be the state's largest town geographically speaking, Newtown has 100 more miles of local roads, which presents a perennial challenge. It is the third-largest road system in Connecticut.

He said today's road conditions result from a combination of 30- to 100-year-old drainage systems - many of which are failing or problem-plagued - a shoddy chip sealing program a decade ago, and a more recent season in which Newtown, along with many others, saw inferior paving materials that are already peeling away.

Mr Hurley explained that while residents may misidentify many of the delaminated sections as full of pot holes, if the road surface is actually delaminating, it cannot be filled or patched like a pothole.

"Delamination doesn't take well to patching," he said. "Patching a delaminated area could fail or disappear in days."

Mr Hurley said the town has limited control over material, but it has recently enforced policies on the percentage of recycled asphalt in its new resurfacing material.

In regard to the issues seen following the delivery of a bad batch of asphalt in 2008, he said, "We hope the material problem is behind us."

With the sheer number of roads that need attention sooner than later, Mr Hurley agreed with the first selectman saying a chip sealing program could buy the necessary time required to get caught up resurfacing roads that are in the worst shape.

A chip sealing program in the current fiscal year, he said, added 13 miles of road surfacing for $500,000. In addition, crews will tackle the worst sections of longer roadways with patch paving.

"We're trying to go from eight to ten miles per year to 25 or better to avoid the kind of disrepair we are seeing all over town," he said. "We think it's practical and gets the overall road service level up."

Residents Are Right

Mr Hurley admitted, "The most frustrating thing is you call and we know you're right."

But he said when it comes to budget time, there are not a lot of people coming out lobbying to add money to the highway department.

"I wish there were 200 people here tonight," he said, adding that it is taxpayers who must provide the support needed to push an aggressive road repair program. When there is little or no public interest, competing interests can take over.

"Over 30 years, economic pressures have created reductions in road [spending]," he said. "That's the realities of budgeting."

Another reality, Mr Hurley defined, is Newtown residents who have the heaviest burden in the entire state - with the most roads in Connecticut and the least amount of public taxpayer revenue for a road maintenance program.

Regarding the planned chip sealing, Mr Hurley assured the selectmen and residents that today, Newtown has access to a better vendor and the adhesives are better; they use a smaller stone chip that provides a better binder.

"After it cures, we clean off loose chips and then overlay with sealer to further deter it coming apart," Mr Hurley said.

Mr Hurley said Newtown is using the same chip sealing vendor as Easton, Redding, and Monroe.

"They all use this vendor and have had good luck," Mr Hurley assured. "Southbury got caught up by stabilizing roads with chip sealing."

In addition to chip sealing, following the meeting Mr Hurley released a list of roads scheduled for patch paving, which segments and repairs the worst sections of road surfaces. Roads scheduled for patch paving in 2018 are: Hattertown, Commerce, Button Shop, Botsford Hill, Bennetts Bridge, Hanover, Toddy Hill, and Walnut Tree Roads, as well as Narragansett and Maplewood Trail.

As the current road program ramps up (see accompanying chart for details), Mr Rosenthal and Mr Hurley both encouraged residents to utilize the online click-to-fix feature to enter potholes and road repair needs into the town's work order database. The feature can be activated from the home page at newtown-ct.gov.

In closing, Mr Rosenthal promised to hold more information sessions as work progresses and to expand the information on progress and make it available 24/7 on the town website and in regular e-notifiers that residents can sign up to receive by e-mail.

Mr Rosenthal said he anticipates that The Newtown Bee will also continue monitoring road work and related projects with information and updates appearing in the weekly print edition and at newtownbee.com.