OVERVIEW-

The Town of Dalton won a million-dollar grant through the state’s MassWorks program for repaving Orchard Road, along with doing additional drainage work to keep the road in good condition.

Residents have been calling for repairs for years, and this project is expected to address all their concerns.

“This is great news for Dalton, and yet another example of great work from our DPW Superintendent Bud Hall,” said Select Board Chair Joseph Diver. “Smaller towns like Dalton do not have the means to keep all our roads in good condition, so we appreciate the support from the Commonwealth for our major projects.”

Bud Hall, Superintendent of the Department of Public Works, said, “This is one of the worst roads in town and also one of the most heavily used. We’ve been trying to deal with the drainage for years—it’s at a low point and collects rainwater from a large area, and the outlets are not big enough to handle major storms, so water backs up and can form ice in the winter, damaging the road. This is the second year we applied for this grant. When we got some feedback from the state last year, we were able to submit a project that met their requirements.”

Hall expects construction to start in the Spring/early Summer of 2024 and, without delays, to be completed in the 2024 construction season.

CURRENT STATUS-

The engineers are drafting easement plans so that the parcels needed for the work can be taken legally. We’ll then need to file the easements. After the design and legal work is done, we’ll be ready to go out to bid for the project. Because it’s already late in the construction season, it might not be possible to get bids within our budget for this year, so the project may be set for the next construction season.