Jeff Chappell,
Supervisor of the Poland Town Garage, has offered some comments on the
article about road salt, as well as requests and suggestions to
residents. The Town does use salted sand on the
70 miles of roads in Poland. 700 yards of this mixture were used last
year, equaling 10 yards of salted sand per mile. Jeff has attended
seminars (“called Snow College”) on road salt and learned that road salt
does contain an additive that’s “nasty” but is necessary to keep the
mixture from caking up. There are alternative additives made but not
yet feasible in large amounts, such as a byproduct of the brewing
process.
He and his crew do their best to keep the roads
cleared and will continue to do so. Jordan Shore Drive has been
“Spring” swept, though the heavy rains kept them from doing so until
later this year.
He’s been called several times to fix areas where
culverts aren’t doing their jobs. His findings were that in one
instance people had filled culverts with sand under their driveways
(probably for support) causing rainwater to flood the road. Other
people have had companies do sewer work for them; these companies had
buried electrical lines and sewer lines through the culverts, rendering
them useless.
Culverts are necessary and only work if they’re open
and available for water to run through them. His request is: Please help the Department by keeping road ditches and culverts near
your houses open and clear of leaves and debris. The Town
will pick up roadside debris the week of July 4th
on Jordan Shore Drive. Winnow it on the
edge of the shoulder. It’s a once-a- year pickup, so please do your
part. The Town will do theirs. They will also be inspecting other
roads, such as Garland Swamp Road, to fill in eroded areas.
