Frequently Asked Questions - 1
Question:
Why not convert our current roads into gravel?
Answer:
No one is suggesting this possibility for two reasons:
There is a cost involved in converting to gravel, and the residents of the Village would have to pay for it. We will still need a Special Assessment District (SAD) because the residents would still need to pay to have this road work done.
We have not heard any resident of Bloomfield Village interested in taking a step backwards and converting our roads to gravel. Many residents believe that converting the roads to gravel will harm property values and cause new problems like “washboard” roads, mud, and dust.
Question:
Can’t we do a asphalt overlay of the village roads?
Answer
It might be possible to do an asphalt overlay but it is not a realistic solution since the overlay would be on top of a crumbling roadbed. Take for instance the section of road in the picture below. An overlay here may last 1 or 2 years before it crumbles. Unfortunately, after 60+ years since the roads were built there simply isn’t enough good roadbed left on which to place an overlay.
Question:
I know it might not be a good solution but couldn’t the Village continue to simply fill potholes indefinitely?
Filling potholes and periodic overlays has been the Village road maintenance strategy since the mid-1980s. Certainly it is possible to continue, but the Road Commission will not fund overlays. We would have to fund the overlays ourselves, and these simply aren’t a good fix.
A filling-potholes strategy will not slow the deterioration of the roads.
Unfortunately, after 40+ years of ongoing pothole patches there are sections of our roads comprised only of patch and crumbling asphalt.
