The Selectmen
Farmington, NH
July 28, 2004
This morning I spoke at length with Pete Prentiss, the road agent in Sandwich, New Hampshire. The township of Sandwich includes the small towns of Sandwich/Whiteface, Center Sandwich, and North Sandwich. As well as being road agent in Sandwich for twenty-one years, Pete is also on the Board of Directors of the Road Agents Association for the state of New Hampshire.
Having some familiarity with the "back" roads of Sandwich from several years of photographing there, I know the dirt roads to be beautiful, well-maintained, and in keeping with the overall rural character of the township. The dirt roads, many of which are the old cart tracks (though of course improved and well-maintained over the years), are not overly wide, have vegetation and trees between the walls and the road surface. In summer, the trees arch over the roads, forming a lush, cool, emerald canopy. And not incidentally, as Pete mentioned and as some of us already know, the vegetation and trees close to the road not only look nice, but help keep down dust and minimize erosion. Pete said that in winter, when his crew plows the roads, they know where the trees and rocks are between the road and the stone walls, and just go slower, taking care to avoid them.
Sandwich owns 50 miles of dirt roads, and 20 miles of tarred roads; in addition, there are 32-33 miles of state-maintained roads. What is most interesting, and indicative of how the people of Sandwich are keenly determined to maintain the rural character of their town, is that ALL of the town-owned roads—all 50 miles of dirt roads and 20 miles of tarred roads, are designated "scenic." In Farmington, by comparison, we have only two roads designated "scenic"—the Poor Farm Road and the River Road. In fact, we have only about 12 miles of dirt roads left in the entire town.
Some time ago, mindful of how beautiful the Sandwich roads are, I suggested that Town Administrator Ernie Creveling—along with road agent Clark Hackett and any of the selectmen or other board members he might rustle up—take a ride up to Sandwich, look over the roads, and meet with Pete the road agent. Only Ernie and Clark went, and upon their return, gave a brief report to the selectmen. Yes, they agreed, the Sandwich roads are very pretty, but Clark said comparing their roads to ours was like comparing oranges to apples, though as I recall, he didn't elaborate much on conclusion. Clark did mention that Pete Prentiss used a textile fabric under the gravel surfaces of their roads, and thought that was a good idea and one that the Farmington road crew might consider putting into practice.
I asked Pete to elaborate about the purpose and use of the fabrics. He said there are several kinds. One is a jute fabric, laid down to the side of the road to help prevent erosion. This fabric holds the soil in place, and eventually rots away.
Another kind, and the one Clark Hackett referred to as being something we ought to consider using for our dirt roads, is good (Pete Prentiss said) for dirt roads with lots of traffic. First, the road is shaped. Then the fabric is laid down, and on top of that is laid 8 inches of 1 and ½-inch crushed bankrun gravel. What this textile does is—for instance, in mud season, when the weight of vehicles make a pumping action that causes the clay to come up to the surface—is to prevent that clay from coming up into the good road gravel on top of the road. The fabric acts like a sheet of steel under the gravel, lending stability to the gravel. Pete said a little bit of water is good in a gravel road, but too much water acts like a lubricant, making the gravel loose, moving it around. Pete said road agents learn this stuff at the UNH Technical Transfer Center, which holds workshops for town officials.
One significant point Pete made—a point perhaps most relevant to the ongoing debate about whether or not to pave over every last mile of our remaining 12 miles of dirt roads—is that paved roads are not necessarily, as some would claim, cheaper to maintain than dirt roads. If roads are designed and built correctly, if ditch lines and other methods to manage water flow are implemented judiciously, if fabric is used where indicated, and if magnesium chloride is used where necessary for dust control, dirt roads are not expensive to maintain. Pete mentioned that he had Bernie Waugh's book, A Hard Road to Travel, and was familiar with its contents. He said widening and over-ditching, and clearing trees and vegetation to the walls, is neither necessary nor desirable, and he can't understand what motivates some towns to do both. (Pete also mentioned that the residents of Sandwich, out of concern for the environment, voted against the use of salt in the road sand, so he mixes just a little salt with his sand in order to keep the sand workable. He added that, in any case, salt is of no use on dirt roads.)
In summing up, Pete said he understood our grader is only ten years old. He said dirt roads take a little care, but if maintained correctly, serve a rural area well. You may have to grade the roads a few times a year, he said, but he didn't think that was a big price to pay for maintaining the rural character of a road.
What Pete Prentiss, with his twenty-one years experience maintaining 50 miles of dirt roads—all designated "scenic"—has to say about dirt road maintenance, along with what Bernie Waugh has to say about the desirability of maintaining aesthetically-pleasing, "slower"dirt roads that meander through our countryside, ought to serve as a warning to us—ought to caution us to treasure our last little bits of dirt roads, and to determine to keep them as they are, restore them where they have been overmanaged and "done to," for all the reasons Prentiss, and Waugh, and people who truly want to hold onto any shreds of whatever "rural character" Farmington has left and which we all claim to want to preserve and protect.
Jane Wingate