August 3, 2020
The condition of Bradley Pond Road is generally fair to good as of this writing.  Recent thunderstorms bringing heavy rain have caused some erosion on graded areas.  These areas would benefit from the addition of new gravel and grading.  The heavy rain also caused two small erosion holes to form on the edges of the road at the second brook culvert in from Route 5.

Winter condition of the road was good.  Josh Jones Construction continues to perform winter maintenance to include plowing, sanding, and pushing back snow banks when needed.

Our 5th season, mud season, which comes between winter and spring, was longer and messier than normal this year.  For those new to mud season let me explain what it is as it always seems to be the issue most talked about.  During the winter our road and the ground under it freezes several feet deep.  This is true of all roads.  As the weather warms in the spring the top few inches of the road surface begins to thaw.  At the same time the snow begins to melt.  The melted snow saturates the road surface if the water is not able to drain via ditches or grade.  That water is not able to permeate through because the ground is still frozen underneath.  As more of the ground thaws and more snow melts the mud becomes deeper.  This continues until “the frost comes out of the road” or, more accurately, the road fully thaws and the water is able to permeate through.  As some of you remember, mud season was far worse years ago.  Bradley Pond Road was virtually impassable for 2 weeks or more every spring.  Thanks to ongoing work by BPA, the Town of Lovell and contributions of BPA lot owners, the spring conditions have greatly improved.  That being said we still have several problem areas, that depending on the weather and snow pack, create stretches of deep mud and resulting ruts.  Typically these areas are the stretch just before the corner where the Old County Road intersects (Arce and Grzyb property line), the stretch just before Grzyb’s driveway, the area just before the fork, and the entire stretch from the fork to the Winship residence.  Fixing these areas would require the addition of heavy road base type gravel and grading of the road to promote drainage.

Another maintenance issue that results from the frost/thaw cycle are stones working their way to the surface.  Some of these stones can be large and pose a hazard to the underside of vehicles.  Many of these stones can be removed by hand and I remove them when I can with a pinch bar.  I know others have done the same.  Larger stones require a piece of equipment to remove.  Erosion also exposes some of these stones and can be covered by adding gravel.

As far as maintenance, little has been done in the last two years.  The town usually grades the road from Route 5 to the boat landing every year which greatly improves that stretch.  Last year (2019) they only graded from Route 5 to the area by the mirror.  After experiencing mechanical issues with the grader they were not able to continue the rest of the way.  This year they have not graded at all as of this date.  They did York rake the road in the spring.  BPA funds have not been available the past two years to perform summer maintenance on the road due to heavy winter maintenance costs.  As you may know, Bruce Davis and Jennifer Moore have begun construction on their lot at the fork.  That has brought heavy construction vehicle traffic which caused some wear to the road.  However the construction company (Fred Wilson Excavation) has addressed those issues by adding and spreading several dump truck loads of gravel to the problem areas restoring the road to better than before condition in those areas.

In closing, please feel free to discuss these or any other road related issues further in this email chain.  Also, once we learn what we have for funds, let me know if we want to direct any of them towards summer maintenance.  I’ll leave a top 3 list below.
Respectfully submitted,
Walt Grzyb BPA Road Commissioner

1 – Repair water holes at 2nd brook
2- Replace culvert between Old County Road and Grzyb driveway
3 – Add road material to area near fork