Tell Us About Your Dirt Road

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Megan Rhodes

Senior Transportation and Land Use Planner

413-773-3167 x 132

As Mud Season Approaches, Locals Asked to Help Make Unpaved Roads Needs Known

The Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) is working with Rep. Natalie Blais to better understand the conditions of our communities’ dirt/gravel roads, as well as the work and cost that goes into their maintenance and repair each year. Rep Blais and other members of the western MA delegation have filed legislation to look at the issue of dirt road maintenance and identify the funding gaps and needs to support unpaved road maintenance and improvement.

“Franklin County has 420 miles of unpaved roads, and in the context of more frequent, intense storms like we saw this this past summer, the costs to town of maintaining these roads becomes more of a challenge”, noted Megan Rhodes, a Senior Transportation and Land User Planner at the FRCOG. “The first step to examining how we plan for unpaved road improvement is to gain a better sense of the immediate needs in rural areas with a significant amount of unpaved roads”.

To help with this effort, the FRCOG has created an interactive online map in which all Franklin County community members can add points to show the location of known issue spots on unpaved roads in their communities. Community members can add “pins” to roads on the map that have recurring maintenance needs or are in need of repair, and can also add pictures and further details. This information will help western MA lawmakers make the case for larger state investment in unpaved road maintenance. Community members can access the interactive map online at https://tinyurl.com/3ydvt2d6.

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