Highway Department

The Shutesbury Highway Department is staffed by a full-time Highway Superintendent, two full-time equipment operators/truck drivers, and one seasonal part-time truck driver. The Department is responsible for all road maintenance, snow removal, paving, and improvements of town roads.

Announcements will be made for road closing a week ahead of time through the Police Department. Partial lane closings will be announced 2 to 3 days ahead of time. Paving contractors may change dates because of weather conditions, so we will notify the public of changes.

Winter Operations

Hello folks...I thought I would outline our winter plowing procedures and operations in Shutesbury. Our personnel consist of three full time employees and one part-time plow operator. On really big storms we have one other part-time helper who is on call if we need him. We have three dump trucks equipped with plows and sanders, a one-ton truck with a plow and sander, and a pickup truck with a plow. On any plowable snow storm we run no less than four trucks.

Our procedures are to treat the main paved roads first with a 50/50 mixture of sand and treated salt. One truck covers Leverett/Cooleyville/Prescott Rd. - then West Pelham and Pelham Hill Rd. The other truck covers Wendell Rd. and Locks Pond Rd. to the lake - then Lakeview Rd. We treat them about the time it starts snowing to prevent the snow from bonding to the pavement. During the storm we will sand the hills for traction to keep traffic moving and everthing gets sanded at the end of the storm. We have seen a very good result with the treated salt and it works better at lower temperatures.

The plowing order is to plow the heavier travelled roads to the least travelled. We plow in the same order as we sand the roads. When the "mains" are done we all separate and plow the gravel roads. One truck does (in order) Montague Rd. - Carver Rd. (west) Baker/Schoolhouse Rd. - Sand Hill Rd. and Leonard Rd. Another truck does Pratt Corner Rd. - Cushman Rd. - and Weatherwood Rd. We have an agreement with Leverett that they plow and sand January Hills Rd. and we plow and sand Leverett's Pratt Corner Rd. The other two trucks plow Wendell Rd. (gravel) - Jennisson Rd. -Farrar Rd. - Stowell Rd. - Briggs Rd.- Carver Rd (east) - Plaza Rd. -Cooleyville Rd. -New Boston Rd. - Cornwell Rd. - and Town Farm Rd. They also plow the library, town hall and fire station.

When these roads are plowed for the last time, they all must be sanded. Also five miles of private roads around Lake Wyola have to be sanded as well as the school parking lot, plowed and sanded. 

I hope this helps to clarify what we do and how we do it... Have a good winter and drive safely.

Tim Hunting
Highway Superintendent 1999-2023

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