MILLIS, Mass. — The annual disintegration of Massachusetts roads is underway, thanks to frigid temperatures, frequent precipitation, and, every now and then, just enough warmth to force little cracks in the asphalt to widen.
Potholes form, initially, because vehicles are tough on asphalt. This may explain why Route 109 between Millis and Medfield has become a pockmarked obstacle course in recent weeks. Not only does it serve heavy traffic but heavy vehicles, including a multitude of cement trucks running to and from Tresca Brothers.
“From right here to where Millis starts, to going down to Roche Bros, there’s just a stretch of all potholes,” said Doordash driver Matt Creedon. “Beginning of the winter it wasn’t awful, but it just progressively seems to be getting worse and worse.”
“They’ve just been worse recently because of all the snow and ice,” said Meg Farnam, who often commutes down 109. “It’s understandable. It’s the season and I feel like the town’s pretty good at staying on top of that stuff.”
To wit, a Millis DPW crew began filling some of the gaps Wednesday. Two tons of asphalt mixture later and they still hadn’t finished.
And it’s likely the pothole problem will get worse before it gets better.
“We probably see 50 to 75 trucks a day,” said Mark Lee, plant manager at Riley Brothers in Bellingham, which supplies local DPW crews with pothole filler. “Next week, when temperatures get up in the 40s and we get a little rain, that’s when you’re going to see the potholes increase.”
And that’s not just on major, busy roads. Take Jefferson Street in Dedham, where the potholes are so bad drivers have little choice but to crawl. Tamar Irving’s familiar with the street. Her parents live there.
“I’m often there taking them to appointments, taking them out grocery shopping,” she said. “But the challenge is, it’s a very rough, very rough road. And then it gets narrow.”
Irving said the road is always bad but in recent weeks has gotten worse.
“It seems that they’ll do some pothole filling but not actually repair a big enough section where it stays filled,” she said. “So then there are problems later with it opening back up.”
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