Call it Cone-cord: Drivers enduring a road repair blitz

Acton’s long road to smoother streets is paved with raised manhole covers, detours, and asphalt fumes.

A five-year, $27.5 million road maintenance surge is well underway, and “my shock absorbers know about it,” Select Board member Paul Boehm quipped as the group recently discussed the effort with Town Manager Kerry Lafleur.

Drivers and cyclists can expect more to come.

Crews are working on roughly 25 miles of roads in 2026 and 2027, according to Town Engineer Steve Dookran.

They’re covering more than 57 miles over the five-year project, Dookran told The Acton Bridge via email through Lafleur’s executive assistant, Matthew Boiteau. 

Acton has 108 miles of public roads, according to Public Works Commission Chair Andrea Solomon, so this undertaking covers more than half the network. Officials are tackling the repairs in stages and have been posting day-by-day schedules at concordma.gov. 

Voters last year approved borrowing money to repair streets. Officials recently awarded a set of two-year contracts.

Updates include grinding through old asphalt, making sidewalk improvements, and laying new pavement. 

“It is a lot of work,” Lafleur said. 

A plea for patience

Officials say they’re trying to catch up on a maintenance backlog. Property owners will pay for road spending through their tax bills.

Leaders have advertised safety improvements and said they’d coordinate with utilities to minimize repeat digging.

Town Water and Sewer Superintendent Darin LaFalam told The Bridge that his team is “trying to stay ahead of the paving” in a push to identify lead service lines to people’s homes.

Lead investigations involve digging holes to inspect pipes. By year’s end, Senior Environmental and Regulatory Coordinator Melissa Simoncini said, officials expect to have only about 60 remaining lead lines and fewer than 100 lines of unknown status.

Workers dragged an asphalt-laying machine up Orchard Road one recent morning as they built a new curb. On the other side of Route 2, traffic cones and orange signs marked the entrance to Adin Drive.

Officials have fielded complaints, Lafleur said, “and we certainly understand, particularly while school is still in session and people are driving their kids to school.”

Construction is also affecting businesses, Lafleur said. “We just ask for everybody’s patience.”