NORTHAMPTON — The Department of Public Works (DPW) is expected to spend about $3.57 million in capital improvement funds on street resurfacing and other roadway improvements this year, as more than half of the city’s 150 roads are “in poor condition” and “in need of total base rehabilitation,” according to Director Donna LaScaleia.
The City Council recently approved the city’s approximately $132.3 million fiscal year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which includes plans for projects spanning from fiscal years 2027-2031 across all departments.
That plan calls for the city to spend a total of $29.9 million in fiscal year 2027, with about $8.7 million out of general funds, including stabilization, cash reserves and trust funds and nearly $3.9 million from enterprise funds, which are used for sewer, water, stormwater and flood control projects.
When LaScaleia presented the DPW’s capital improvement funding requests to the council on March 19, she explained that road resurfacing and sidewalk rehabilitation were among the department’s “big ticket items.” She noted that utility infrastructure and sidewalk repair are among some of the city’s largest roadway needs.
“A lot of the problems that we have on our streets throughout the city are due to utility issues,” she said.
LaScaleia said the following streets and sidewalks are in line for resurfacing or repairing this year: Florence Street, Kingsley Avenue, Belmont Avenue, Carpenter Avenue, Randolph Place, Jewett Street, Sheffield Lane, Stilson Avenue, Hillcrest Drive, Crescent Street, Hillside Road, Langworthy Road, Perkins Avenue and Summer Street.
The DPW intends to repave Locust and Bradford streets, Riverside Drive, Landy Avenue and Fort Hill Terrace in 2027, LaScaleia mentioned.
The DPW director went on to explain that with oil prices on the rise, and oil being one of the primary ingredients of asphalt, the costs of roadway improvement projects will be unpredictable in years to come, adding an increased urgency to the DPW’s current projects.
“It’s extremely important to note that with the geopolitical climate and the price of gas … it is very unclear what the impacts of that are going to be on our projects,” she said. “The things that are going on right now can have huge impact on these projects and actually render them really outside of what we have estimated and almost unaffordable.”
In compliance with the city’s Complete Streets ordinance, LaScaleia said the DPW repairs sidewalks and repaves roadways concurrently. However, in addition to the sidewalk repair work that coincides with road repair, she said the DPW will complete separate sidewalk repair work in the Village Hill area as well as neighborhoods near South Street to the tune of $1 million to $1.5 million.
LaScaleia also explained that stormwater infrastructure projects, which have to be funded through the DPW’s enterprise funds, can add financial strain on the department, as although flooding directly impacts roadway degradation, stormwater infrastructure spending eats up most of its designated funding.
This year, the city is expected to allocate $1 million in capital improvement funds to the DPW’s Stormwater Enterprise fund.
“Stormwater utility has been at $2 million overall total value for more than 10 years. As the operating expenses within that enterprise rise, we have diminished capacity to fund capital projects,” she said. “There are two big things that get funded out of the stormwater enterprise; they are our levy and flood control system and our storm drains that directly impact the degradation of our roadways … because of the value of the enterprise, we have less than $1 million a year to split between those two important things.”
