Politics & Government

DPW Starts Work on Crosswalk Replacement

McAloon said redoing crosswalks priority for August.

Work on repairing the town’s crosswalks has started.

Contractors retained by the Department of Public Works have been out repainting 264 crosswalks around town. Using the thermoplastic method of crosswalk painting, Town Engineer Kris McAloon said the project will take place through the month of August.

The thermoplastic method of crosswalk painting involves applying the paint at a high temperature, which will dry faster. When the method was first employed in Westfield in 2009, McAloon said the crosswalks would last longer, along with the method being quicker to paint the crosswalks. 2009 was the last year the town did an overhaul of crosswalks.

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While it has been two years since many crosswalks across town were painted, McAloon said the crosswalks being done now were either those that were not done in 2009 or those that suffered during this winter’s heavy snow.

“Some that we put down did wear away with the winter we had,” McAloon said.

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During a Town Council meeting last month, Councilwoman Vicki Kimmins asked if the DPW could focus first on crosswalks closest to the town’s 10 schools, along with those on walking routes to the schools. McAloon said the school related crosswalks were top of the painting list and the department would focus on those first.

McAloon also said that the school crosswalks were largely done in 2009 and many did not receive damage in the winter. He said the DPW has been evaluating all of the crosswalks townwide to decide which needed to be replaced.

During the thermoplastic discussion, Councilman Dave Haas asked McAloon if it was possible to use the method to repaint the numbers and lines in the town’s parking lots. Haas said he sees the numbers fading quickly, with the DPW having to regularly repaint the lots.

McAloon said he has explored using the thermoplastic method on the parking lots, but said it would be cost prohibitive for the cash strapped municipality. He said the process is more expensive and the method would cost three dollars per number.


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