Voters in Bedford will decide next week whether to pass a $30 million bond to pay for a backlog of road improvements.
The bond goes before voters during Town Meeting on Tuesday and requires two-thirds support to pass.
The town has listed roughly 150 roads spanning 60 miles that would be repaired through the bond.
Public Works Director Jim Stanford says the bond would go a long way toward addressing the town’s backlog of repairs to roads, bridges and culverts.
“The Town Council has dubbed it ‘Leave No Road Behind.’ Essentially, any road that hasn’t been worked on in the last 20 years or constructed within the last 20 years would receive some sort of major treatment. Many of those roads are in failure right now.”
If approved, construction would start next year and go through 2022.
The Town Council and Town Manager support the bond, while the Bedford Taxpayers Association recently came out against it.
The town hasn’t increased its annual maintenance budget in more than a decade, but voters did pass an $8 million road repair bond in 2003 and another $12 million bond in 2005.
An additional $12 million from an infrastructure bond passed in 2011 is slated for road repairs.