City Streets Require $22 Million—$1.5 Million Available

Haverhill city streets require an estimated $22 million in improvements, but state aid—while a “record amount”—covers only $1.5 million.

Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini came up with the total after officials used a computerized “pavement management system” at the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (MVPC) and visual inspections last year by summer interns. The amount does not include sidewalks.

“Even with the increased money from the state…we are only able to repave about 25 streets per year,” Fiorentini said. “Through the use of technology and the innovative pavement methods we instituted a few years ago, we hope to be able to stretch our dollars to make them most efficient. We know it is not enough, but we know it is a good start.”

The paving system has been in use the past five years to rank road conditions and prioritize improvement projects and preventive maintenance, including road crack sealing. The mayor also said a citywide assessment of sidewalks is the next goal. “We anticipate that this is going to be a multi-million dollar, multi-year project. We know that giving the citizens of the city drivable roads and walkable sidewalks is a major concern for our citizens. This computerized high-tech pavement management system is our guide and directs us as to where we need to start the program.”

3 thoughts on “City Streets Require $22 Million—$1.5 Million Available

  1. It all tracks back to the CITY BUDGET. We just finished another round of budget approvals, and NOW we learn that $22 million is needed to repair streets and sidewalks? Who is running this City? Who is responsible for determining that EVERY ANTICIPATED COST is accounted for in the budget….. And why wasn’t this mentioned until now?

    • The Mayor does ALL of this. He controls every aspect of everything. He micro manages every corner of every issue and controls all the info as well. Nobody speaks without his approval so you won;t hear about anything he does not want you to know about. Unless of course a good news journalist digs and finds out behind the scenes what is going on. But those are hard to find nowadays.

  2. Queue the calls for more money on infrastructure in 3…2…1…

    Meanwhile, good luck in accounting for every penny of Highway Trust Fund monies, the monies that were in fact supposed to be used for upkeep of infrastructure.

    /crickets