Impact on Afton Roads by Fracking Industry Truck Traffic

Here’s why New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal (NYMIR) – the Town of Afton’s insurer – is concerned about the impact of hydrofracking on local roads:

“The cost of maintaining and reconstructing local roads and bridges is typically borne by the local government with jurisdiction over the road. Yet not all users of the roads benefit the same, and some uses are proven to be far more damaging to roadways than others. Heavy truck traffic generally causes more damage to roads because, by some estimates, each passing of a single large truck is the equivalent of approximately 9,000 passing automobiles.

“Municipal roads and bridges are not protected by insurance in the same way a Town hall, City park pavilion, County parking garage or a Village police station might be covered. Wear and tear to road surfaces caused by overweight vehicles and equipment are not insurable events. Instead, they are a direct cost to the municipality.

“With each horizontal well, it is estimated that approximately 3,950 heavy truck trips (round trips) will be made, along with approximately 2,840 light truck trips (round trips). If a single well pad includes multiple wells, then the number of trips stated above will be multiplied by the number of wells on the well pad.”

“According (to) the NYSDOT, the cost to repair damaged pavement on local roads varies from $70,000 - $150,000 per lane mile for low level maintenance such as a single course overlay, up to $500,000- $1.9 million per lane mile for full-depth reconstruction… A sampling of 147 local bridges in the counties of Broome, Chemung and Tioga resulted in an average replacement cost of $1.5 million per bridge.

http://www.nymir.org

(This article from page 9, Winter 2013 issue, The Afton Vision)