Senator Moore received this e mail from an Oxford constituent who is distraught over her street's disrepair.  Citing Oxford officials' calls for the state to assist in paying for the road revitalization, the constituent asks Senator Moore how the Legislature can help with paying for repairs.  While Senator Moore agrees with the need to repair the road, he explains that, unfortunately, repair rests largely with the Town.  Despite this, the Senator offers a detailed response that at least answers many, if not all of the constituent's concerns. Read the exchange between Senator Moore and the Oxford constituent below:

---

From: An Oxford Constituent
To: Senator Moore

Dear Senator Moore:

I live on Charlton Street in Oxford, MA – our street is in complete disrepair. Just take a ride down there from the Center to Dudley Road. This road has been patched, patched and re-patched for years. Our Selectmen state that Oxford alone should not have to pay for the complete re-doing of Charlton Street since this road is traveled on the average of 12,000 cars/day according to our DPW.

They have said the cost to do this will be approximately $4 Million dollars. How can you help us get other surrounding communities to help pay for this to be accomplished? And the sooner, the better please. Our DPW had a meeting with the residents who told us it could take up to four more years before we could be granted money to make the repairs – if approved.

Can you help get us stimulus/Chapter 90 money? The Selectmen feel the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should help pay for this since so many surrounding towns use the road – it has also become even more busy with the new Supermarket in Oxford which is wonderful.
I would appreciate a response to this very important issue.

Thank you,

An Oxford Constituent

---

From: Senator Moore
To: Oxford Constituent

Dear Oxford Constituent,

Thank you for your email regarding the condition of Charlton Street in Oxford. I have traveled Charlton Street myself, and concur that it has deteriorated in recent years. Nevertheless, I believe that Charlton Street is a town road, and not a state highway. The maintenance of local roads (as opposed to state or Interstate highways) is the responsibility of each local community, and has been such for many years. However, the town of Oxford receives state funding for repair and reconstruction of roads under Chapter 90 of the General Laws for highways that carry traffic through a community, such as Charlton Street. For FY ’10, Oxford is receiving $377.812. Towns are permitted to put their annual Chapter 90 funding aside in order to build up to an amount for a major road project. I am confident that the Town Manager could inform you how much money is currently set aside in Chapter 90 funding that might be unallocated to a particular project and how long it would take for the town to set aside all or part of Oxford’s Chapter 90 appropriation in order to reconstruct Charlton Street. 

Given the current recession, and resultant decline in state revenues (over 16% reduction since the beginning of the recession), the state will have all it can do to try to maintain Chapter 90 allocations to the cities and towns over the next few years. It would be unlikely that the state would allocate $4 million, or any amount beyond the Chapter 90 allocation, for the reconstruction of Charlton Street since many other local roads across the state are also in poor condition and would have a proportionate claim to any new funding if it could be available based on road conditions and traffic volume. While the Governor proposed increasing the gas tax (which is the primary source of funding for road and bridge construction), the Legislature did not approve the increase, and is unlikely to support any new taxes in the current session.

A proposal such as you suggest to assess neighboring communities for the cost of repair of a road in one community would certainly be resisted by the neighboring communities since they, undoubtedly, have local roads of their own that need repair. These other communities would demand similar treatment and, I would expect, that Oxford would be assessed for the use of roads in other towns by Oxford residents. This is, after all, the purpose of the chapter 90 road program – to establish some fairness in the fact that non-residents frequently travel over certain local roads in towns other than their own. I don’t think making Charlton Street into a local toll road is a likely prospect either.

I regret that I cannot provide a more optimistic response for an expeditious solution to the need to reconstruct or repair Charlton Street. However, the Chapter 90 local road program, which was designed for exactly the purpose you mention, is the best solution if the town of Oxford is willing to make repair a priority for its use of chapter 90 funding and set aside funds for that purpose in the coming years.

Senator Richard T. Moore