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Aug 20, 2023

Questions Raised About Snow Removal On Town Sidewalks

A plow clears the Bourne Bridge during a slushy storm last winter. Who is responsible for removal of snow and ice from sidewalks that are state-owned property? Is it the obligation of the

A plow clears the Bourne Bridge during a slushy storm last winter.

Who is responsible for removal of snow and ice from sidewalks that are state-owned property? Is it the obligation of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, or does responsibility lie with the towns in which the sidewalks are located? A degree of uncertainty persists and was the topic of a discussion during the Bourne Select Board’s meeting on Wednesday, August 2.

The topic was added to the agenda at the request of Select Board member Peter J. Meier, and the board addressed it as part of a far-reaching discussion on town policies regarding roads in Bourne.

Mr. Meier spoke of a situation this past winter when Jordan Geist, Bourne School Department’s director of business services, expressed concerns over sidewalks on Waterhouse Road not being cleared of snow and ice to allow for safe travel of students who walk to school.

Mr. Meier’s father, William W. (Dusty) Meier, does snow plowing for the state. When Mr. Geist asked if the state could help out the DPW, which was busy all across town with snow-clearing efforts, the elder Mr. Meier said he was told “no” by his boss.

Selectman Meier went on to suggest that the town clears sidewalks to help out the state, notably the sidewalks on the canal bridges. He said that he wants to put some political pressure on the town’s state legislators to have money appropriated to the state budget, so the burden is taken off the town.

“So the state can get back to maintaining their own roads instead of putting it [on] the DPW that’s already overtaxed as it is, and overworked,” he said.

Mr. Meier said that in addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers does not plow the sidewalks going across the Bourne and Sagamore bridges. The Army Corps has care, custody and control of the current bridges, and people crossing to get to work on one side or the other “are taking their lives into their own hands.”

Board chairwoman Mary Jane Mastrangelo said the state plows the bridges, but Mr. Meier pointed out that neither the state nor the Army Corps clears the sidewalks.

“Why should it have to fall to us,” he said, “on something that is owned by another state or federal agency? Why should we have to pick up the slack for it?”

Acting Department of Public Works Director Matthew Quinn said that clearing sidewalks, notably the ones going across the canal bridges, is something that the DPW has done since he started with the department in 2008.

Board chairwoman Mary Jane Mastrangelo said the situation in Bourne is happening across Massachusetts. The state does not take responsibility for plowing sidewalks anywhere in Massachusetts, she said. However, she continued, there is a new mandate from the Federal Highway Administration for MassDOT to provide a maintenance plan for sidewalks.

To date, she said, MassDOT has not complied with the mandate, but the state Department of Conservation and Recreation has submitted a plan. Ms. Mastrangelo and board member Melissa A. Ferretti both acknowledged the state’s Safe Routes to School Program, which works to increase safe biking and walking among elementary, middle, and high school students.

Ms. Mastrangelo said there are grants available through the program that the town could apply for, which would help with funding snow and ice removal efforts. She said there are areas of town, in addition to Waterhouse Road, that need attention in the interest of student safety.

Town Administrator Marlene V. McCollem said there may be a Memorandum of Agreement between the District 5 of MassDOT and the town, stipulating that Bourne accepted responsibility for clearing sidewalks. Mr. Quinn concurred, adding that he was informed of the agreement “quite a while ago.”

In addition to Waterhouse Road, sidewalks on state property that are cleared by Bourne DPW include Sandwich Road in Bourne Village, Sandwich Road in South Sagamore down by the shuttered Christmas Tree Shop, all the way to the Bourne-Sandwich town line, Mr. Quinn said.

“I’d say 80 percent of our sidewalks are on state-owned property that we clean,” he said.

Cataumet resident John York said that he submitted a Public Records Request with MassDOT for the Memorandum of Agreement mentioned by Ms. McCollem. Mr. York said that the MassDOT records office told him that no such record exists, but he is aware of a long-term understanding between MassDOT and the towns for the towns to plow state-owned sidewalks.

“I don’t know how far back that goes,” he said, “it might be that it was never in a formal document, but I think that our town has been operating on that basis, as have other towns for quite a while.”

Mr. York added that there is a federal mandate which requires that any sidewalk built using federal funds, such as those on the canal bridges, be plowed to the same level as the roadway to which it is adjacent. He said the state does not follow that mandate, and no one holds them to task for that.

He suggested that the town approach the Federal Highway Administration about the state’s lack of attention to that mandate.

No decisions were made, and discussion of the topic was continued to a future select board meeting.

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