By Marcia Parnell
This article had to be changed significantly just before going to print, and the latest developments illustrate just how challenging it is to find funding to maintain our roads. The town Administrator Kathe Warden received notice on October 18th from State officials that two grant applications Becket had submitted for local road improvements had been denied. The notices cited a “very competitive round” in which state agency reviewers opted for what it called the “most ready” and “highest impact” projects. Warden has scheduled meetings with reviewers in early November to better understand why Becket was not selected. Recent requests to relevant State offices about a broader news release including details like total grant awards, list of towns recommended for grants and other information were unanswered by press time.
The first grant application was for $1 million from MassWorks for Infrastructure and would have gone towards repairing County Road from McNerney Road to the new section of Yokum Pond Road. Given the large expense (a million dollars a mile is the Berkshire County adage) the work had been segmented into three phases over several years due to its length.
The second was for another $1 million grant that supports small-town roads and would have gone towards finishing repair work on Leonhardt Road. Devastated by flooding in 2021, major engineering work and permitting has already been completed using Chapter 90 funds. Extensive drainage and culvert work is still required to fully repair the road which is open and navigable but subject to wash outs from heavy rain.
A $65K Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) small-bridge grant for the Benton Hill culvert was denied earlier this year. Given the wash-out and road collapse a new bridge was considered the best long-term solution to address potential heavy rainfall there in the future.
No town or city can fully fund their own road work because costs so far exceed taxpayers’ ability to pay for it. Outside funding comes from several sources. Chapter 90 funding is allocated every year by the State to all of its 351 municipalities. In both FY 2024 and 2025 Becket received $234k. Additional funding comes from recently enacted legislation allocating dollars based on road mileage, population, employment and rurality. For Becket, in FY 2024 this resulted in a Fair Share grant of $152k and a Rural Road grant of $114k or total allocated funds of $500k. As of this writing, FY 2025 allocations are still pending. There are also MassWorks grants available both for road and bridge work that each town must apply for. Some require town-matched funding. As noted, Warden applied for grants to help with the County and Leonhardt Roads projects and a DER small-bridge grant for Benton Hill Road, all of which were denied.
The Town’s contribution is recommended and approved by the voters at the Annual Meeting. In addition to the annual Highway Department budget the Town has accumulated a healthy Stabilization (rainy-day) fund of about $1.5 million and in 2023 and 2024 voters elected to match Chapter 90 amounts and create a Highway Stabilization fund totaling $475k. The former is available for any type of rainy-day expense, the latter strictly limited to highway improvements.
Potholes, bumps, shoulder erosion and other pesky issues impact all of us at some point during our drives around Town. The Select Board and Town Administrator have told the Beat that road conditions are the issue they tend to hear about most from taxpayers. Going from rough roads to smooth surfaces is a complicated process with varying requirements and timelines that require nimble planning. Unfortunately, without any grant funding Town officials will have to re-visit priorities and recommend whether and how to use Chapter 90, State-allocated funds and Stabilization dollars to repair and maintain local roads. Interested residents may attend relevant Select Board meetings (check dates and agendas) and all registered voters can likely expect an article in the warrant at the Annual Town Meeting in May 2025.
For now, with fall in full swing and temperatures dropping, road paving and construction projects are coming to an end for the season. The good news is that smaller projects on Bancroft, Upper Bonny Rigg and Quarry Roads will be completed before winter. Other smaller roads might be in worse condition, but since these three all required attention and are closely situated, doing them all at once saved on total expense. Every penny counts.
