Alton looks to be in line for $863K in emergency road repair money

Town Administrator Russell Bailey had some good news about town roads for the Board of Selectmen at a recent meting.

First, he reported that Alton could receive as much as $654,760 in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse the town for repairing damage caused by two violent rainstorms that hit the town last April.

Then he told the members that the state Department of Transportation (DOT) wants to come back and hold another public meeting about plans to improve the Alton traffic circle.

The FEMA money was certainly the most significant news the town has heard since it submitted a report of about 1,000 pages to the federal agency several months ago.

And the state could supply an additional $109,128 for the road restoration work, Bailey said.

“We met with FEMA officials here (at town hall about two weeks ago),” Bailey said. The representatives indicated the agency would likely accept the town’s estimate of its road repair work, which totals $873,024. “They’d provide 75-percent of that,” the administrator said.

“This is good news,” he added. “I’d been using a conservative figure (in my estimates). But if it’s approved (by higher up FEMA officials) we’d receive a check in about two months for 75-percent of our estimate.”

Yesterday Bailey noted that state emergency funds could add another 12.5-percent to that relief figure. Since NH officials are using the same estimate total as FEMA, that would leave the town out only about $109,128 — or the remaining 12.5 percent — for the road damage, Bailey said.

The storms, which hit different parts of the Lakes Region in varying intensity, hammered some parts of Alton particularly hard, Bailey recalled yesterday. In all, about 23 roads needed at least $1,000 worth of repair/restoration work. “There was Prospect Mountain, Stockbridge Corners, Drew Hill Road, Avery Hill… Alton Mountain got particularly hard hit,” he said.

A portion of Rte. 28 on the southern part of town was also washed out and had to be closed for a while but the state paid for the restoration work on its highway, he said.

At the same meeting, Bailey said that the DOT wanted to come back to town to hold another public meeting about its tentative plans to make improvements to the Alton traffic circle. The last meeting held in the Gilman Museum and sponsored by the Alton Business Association, attracted more than 70 people, most whom said they wanted few, if any changes, to the circle despite the fact that the DOT representatives said their agency receives more complaints about the unusual traffic pattern there than any other rotary in the state.

“They’ll be coming back shortly after Labor Day for another public information meeting,” Bailey told the board. The state agency thought it would be a good idea for the town to co-sponsor the event with the business association, he said, and the selectmen quickly agreed.

No definite date was announced at the meeting.