Alexandria  Town  Ordinance

Class V  Road Specifications

In order to protect the Town of Alexandria against excessive costs of maintaining required statutory services; such as fire, police, ambulance, etc., on highways of sub-standard nature, e.g. too narrow, steep, muddy, or rough, etc.; to reasonably use town equipment on, or maintain for reasonable costs, be it enacted by the Town Meeting of Alexandria here assembled this fifteenth day of March, 2007  the following ordinance:


1.   All extensions of or from existing roads shall conform to minimum standards as defined in #2. Paving may be required if extension or addition is from a paved road or street. All Class VI roads must also conform to minimum town standards as defined in #2 below, before approval. No roadway less than 200 feet in length, situated entirely on the owner’s property and ending on that property, which is used solely for the convenience of said owner, shall be accepted as town road (intent being to exclude driveways).

2.          Minimum Standards:

       All Class V roadbeds must be 24 feet in width with a right-of-way not less than 50 feet.

       All Class VI 2 rod roadbeds must be a minimum of 18 feet width with a minimum right-of-way width of 33 feet. All class VI 3 rod roadbeds must be a minimum of 20 feet width with a minimum right-of-way width of 49 ½ feet.

       The roadbed must be cleared of all trees, stumps. topsoil and 12” or larger rocks. Roadbeds will be stripped to a stable sub-base, before minimum depth of 18” of bank run gravel is applied. All gravel shall be compacted in 6” lifts during the placement of bank run gravel. The top course must be at least 12” thick of processed crushed gravel measuring the largest stone at 2” or smaller. All roadbeds must have properly sized ditches, drainage pipes of 18” minimum diameter, bridges and water turn-outs, that adequately handles the flow of storm water run-off that the roadway may sustain. All roadbeds will be crowned with at least ½” per foot of slope, for proper roadway drainage. All shoulder work and roadside slopes will be stabilized also. All roadways with a 20% or greater slope will not be accepted. All roadside slopes shall be 3:1 minimum, as required by state specifications. Downhill roadside slopes steeper than 3:1 shall require guard rail. Uphill roadside slopes steeper than 3:1 shall be stabilized to prevent wash-outs and be setback from road as far as possible to allow snow storage.

a.     Paving may be required on grades in excess of 10% and other features may be required if deemed necessary by the Selectmen and Road Agent due to unusual conditions. Grades of more than 15% will require special approval.

b.     All dead-ends must have adequate provision for reversing direction of traffic, including maintenance equipment, at all times of the year. Islands within a cul-de-sac will not be accepted..

c.      Drainage pipes over 10 years of age will need to be inspected by an outside source, other than the contractor himself. All costs to be covered by the contractor.

3.     All road plans must be submitted, reviewed and approved by the Selectmen prior to construction. All roadwork will be inspected by the Road Agent or his designee during and after completion of work. The Selectmen will give final approval of the roadway when all work is completed.

4.     This ordinance shall take effect upon its adoption.