BARNSTABLE -For years, Town of Barnstable officials have been seeking a way to use public funds to repair private roads in town. A large percentage of the town’s roads are private and homeowners on those roads are responsible for the cost of repair.
As a result, some roads have major degradation and residents frequently complain about the roads, not realizing that the care of the roads is up to the homeowners rather than the town.
But Barnstable Town Manager Thomas Lynch announced this week that three bills impacting the town’s ability to improve private roads with public funds have been signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick.
One bill allows the Town to use public money on private road repairs when the road is a heavily traveled connector road.
The second bill increases Barnstable’s ability to bond an additional $5 million to allow homeowners on a private road who take advantage of the Temporary Repair to Private Roads Program to pay for road improvements.
The third bill, now Chapter 355 of the Acts of 2014, was signed into law on October 31st. The law adds infrastructure repairs to the town’s Sewer Trust Fund, again allowing a source of funding for the repair of private roads in the Town of Barnstable, Lynch said.
