Carleton Road To Be Rebuilt

GEORGETOWN – Traffic using the intersection of state Rte. 133 and a rebuilt Carleton Drive, just west of Interstate 95, will be under substantial scrutiny when the G. Mello Trash Disposal Corp. begins accepting large trucks bringing trash to it large, new station.
A new permit approved by the town’s Planning Board recently requires Mello to hire a police detail to manage traffic at that intersection for the first four months of operations.
Six months after the transfer station opens, Mello must also produce a traffic study on Carleton Drive and the intersection.
But even that was not enough for board chair Harry LaCortiglia, who announced at the meeting that he plans to use the access road to avoid the intersection on his drives to and from I-95.
In a 10-page decision, the board unanimously approved the operating permit for the transfer station after the state Land Court agreed with Mello and rejected the board’s previous denial.
Mello is waiting only for the town’s Conservation Commission, whose chair resigned this month, to approve the station after the Land Court approved Mello’s appeal of its denial.
The Board of Health has also approved the Mello application, but limited it to a staged implementation, beginning the first two years with 150 tons per day. It can process 550 tons of trash per day in the fifth year or 2027.
Before the plant can operate, the Planning Board and Board of Health are requiring Mello to reconstruct the 1,600-foot Carleton Road, which is fraying on the edges and engineers believe will not handle truck traffic. When it was tested with 11 core drillings by Miller Engineering and Testing two years ago, the subsurface was mostly sand and water.
According to the Miller Engineering analysis, a total rebuild of the road will require 20 inches of gravel as the base, topped with 12 more inches of crushed gravel, 3 inches of binding material and 2 inches of asphalt on top.
Mello proposed that it only resurface the road with two inches of asphalt.
The intersection at Carleton Drive was rated by the state Department of Transportation as an A and F. Entering the intersection from interstate 95, it was rated an A, but exiting onto 133 was rated an F.
Mello told the Planning Board the station would generate 94 new vehicle trips at that intersection, including 59 roll-off container trucks, 10 packer trucks and 14 transfer trailers per day. All trucks must enter and exit from the east. Drivers will have three strikes against them if they turn west and drive their truck through downtown Georgetown.
Under terms of Mello’s permit, the town will also monitor the station’s impact on noise and dust, wildlife and vermin.