Road Postings Lifted! Updated 12-MAR-24

The Town's road postings will be removed tomorrow - Wednesday, March 13th, 2024 - as surface temperatures have gone up and soft areas of dirt roads have improved.  Thanks for your cooperation during this annual process!

Please contact Supervisor of Roads Piper if you have any questions.

Why do we post the roads?  It’s all about water and the freeze-thaw cycle.

Cracks on a paved road allow rain, melting snow, and salt to seep into the base. The salt in the water causes these areas to freeze later than the surrounding areas, so water continues to seep in and the base becomes unstable and driving on it causes more cracks.  A car can cause cracks, of course, but a heavy vehicle causes more, and the process continues until the pavement is destroyed.  The heavier the vehicle, the greater the potential for damage.  (This is why the Highway Department has a line for crack filling.)

On a dirt road, the surface thaws while the base stays frozen. Water can't drain away, and the surface becomes saturated, turning into mud. The mud can't support the weight of a vehicle, so the wheels sink in until they hit the firm frozen layer, which creates ruts. The ruts freeze overnight, and the process continues until the surface becomes impassable. Again, the heavier the vehicle, the greater the potential for damage.

Once the weather warms, the frost leaves all layers of the road, the water drains away, and both types of roads return to their ability to support heavy loads. Then the Highway Department spends the summer dealing with the damage...until next ~February or ~March, when the whole process starts over.

So basically, the most effective method of limiting damage to roads this time of year is simply to restrict the amount of weight on them - and that's why the Highway Department posts the roads each year at about this time.