[Adopted 8-13-1991 by Ch. No. 983 as §§ 11-26
through 11-34 of the 1991 Code]
Prior to making any excavation, performing any
construction work or heavy hauling that would be detrimental to the
road surface in any public street or highway in the Town, each person
wishing to make such excavation, perform such construction or heavy
hauling shall first obtain from the office of the Director of Public
Works a written permit to perform such work or heavy hauling.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
Prior to performing the work, utility companies
intending to set, move or remove utility poles shall first obtain
from the office of the Director of Public Works a written permit to
perform the work.
This permit shall state the nature of the work
to be done, its location, and the probable time required for its completion,
and other particulars required by the Director of Public Works.
Familiarity with specifications for replacing
pavement and shoulders are a condition precedent to granting of permit.
All persons requesting excavation, construction,
heavy hauling or utility pole permits shall place on file in the office
of the Director of Public Works a performance bond in an amount satisfactory
to the Director, but not less than $1,000 guaranteeing proper performance
of the work and subsequent satisfactory repair of the highway. They
also shall place on file certificates of public liability and property
damage insurance in amounts satisfactory to the Director.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
If any person shall, for six hours of daylight,
after the completion of the work for which such opening was made,
omit to fill up or repair such highway to the satisfaction of the
Director of Public Works, it shall be the duty of the Director of
Public Works to proceed to fill up or repair the same in proper manner,
and to deliver to the Town Treasurer a statement of the costs, with
reasonable charges for the superintendence of the same. The Treasurer
shall cause the same to be collected of the persons causing such highway
to be opened, in an action of debt in the name of the Town, before
any court of competent jurisdiction. Whenever any trench or hole must
of necessity remain after dark, every person making any such trench
or hole, or employing anyone so to do, shall cause a sufficient barricade
and light to be kept around, over and/or near the same, throughout
the whole of the night, so as to protect the public and give sufficient
notice to all persons passing in or through the highway.
[Added 4-4-2016 by Ch.
No. 1855]
A.
Purpose. The Town of Westerly Department of Public Works and Engineering
Division stipulates certain minimum criteria to be employed by the
Town work forces, general contractors, subcontractors and utility
agencies when performing excavation for water, sewer, gas, electric,
telephone, fire alarm, communication lines, and storm drainage utilities
within Town-controlled right-of-way areas. These minimum criteria
and referenced stipulations relative to the underground installation
of the aforementioned utilities shall be relative to the installation
of new utilities, replacement of existing utilities and removal of
existing utilities of any type. These stipulations are to ensure that
the impacted Town public rights-of-way for work listed to be performed
within the Town's road work permit application is performed in
a manner to protect pedestrian and vehicular traffic at all times
during construction and until acceptance of final restoration measures.
These minimum criteria and referenced stipulations are included as
attached supplements to the Town's road work permit application.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
B.
Pavement restoration; both temporary and permanent in nature, incidental
to excavation operations or road surface disturbances shall conform
to the stipulations and minimum standard detail requirements as set
forth within the attached supplements to the Town's road work
permit application. The stipulations and minimum criteria for road
work permit approval are:
(1)
Excavation requirements for underground utility installations,
replacements, removals or repairs.
(a)
The applicant shall indicate on the road work permit application
form the name of the responsible contractor/subcontractor who will
be performing the proposed utility trench work within the Town's
right-of-way and road surface areas. The applicant shall provide a
copy of his or her insurance certificate and shall meet the minimum
insurance coverage requirements set forth by the Town. The applicant
shall be responsible for meeting all obligations of the Town's
Road Work Permit and these supplements. The Town reserves the right
to request from the applicant a surety performance bond relative to
the extent and scope of the proposed utility work being contemplated
within the Town's right-of-way areas.
(b)
Pursuant to the Town's public safety requirements to protect
pedestrian and vehicular traffic within and adjacent to the proposed
work zone areas as outlined within the road work permit application
request, the applicant or applicant's subcontractor crews working
within and/or adjacent to the Town's right-of-way areas will
be responsible for providing proper signage and barricades per the
latest edition of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
At least one travel lane should be kept open at all times with alternating
traffic.
(c)
It shall be the applicant's or applicant's contractor's
responsibility to coordinate with Dig Safe requirements, coordinating
with the Westerly Police Department for required police details and
providing incidental certified flagger personnel for the road work
items to be completed. The cost for police details, protection of
traffic, and incidental certified flaggers shall be the responsibility
of the applicant. These costs may be waived for Town-directed work
which will be provided to the applicant in writing or through a construction
contract agreement.
(d)
Excavations are to be performed in accordance with the latest
OSHA requirements. Shelving of excavations will be allowed by Town
approval at locations not impacted by public pedestrian or vehicular
traffic. It is the intent of these supplements to provide the minimum
trench excavation width and depth necessary to perform the proposed
utility work as indicated within the road work permit application.
Suitable trench boxes or shoring shall be employed where required
by OSHA to provide stabilization of trench sidewalls, to protect workers
within the trench limits and for public safety.
(e)
The Town reserves the right to direct the applicant or the applicant's
subcontractor at any time to stop any additional trenching work and
to focus on properly securing and patching any open trench which has
received gravel backfill if weather or time presents an issue for
providing the required public protection.
(f)
Trench limits shall be sawcut in a neat and clean fashion prior
to excavation operations. Excess trench pavement and soil materials,
debris, utility structures and pipelines to be disposed of shall be
scheduled for removal from the Town's public right-of-way areas
as soon as possible to preserve protection of the public.
(g)
All backfilling operations must be completed in a manner and
with suitable compaction equipment to provide for compacted layers
not exceeding 12 inches in depth after compaction. Compacted layers
shall be performed to an effort to achieve a minimum of 95% maximum
dry density requirements.
(h)
By the end of each workweek (Friday afternoon by 3:30 p.m. or
by 12:00 noon for recognized Town holiday weekends), all backfilled
trenches are to have a temporary layer of hot mix asphalt according
to the attached applicable figures.[1] There will be no exemptions allowed to these requirements
without approval from the Westerly Public Works Director for Road
Work Permit applications or Westerly Town Engineer for the Town's
capital infrastructure improvements projects.
[1]
Editor's Note: The figures are included as attachments to this chapter.
(2)
Road surface pavement restoration requirements.
(a)
The applicant or the applicant's subcontractor shall provide
at minimum the pavement restoration requirements as identified within
the attached Figure PR-1 for temporary pavement restoration and Figure
PR-2 for permanent pavement restoration for existing road surface
conditions greater than five years in age. The requirements set forth
in Figure PR-3 shall be applied to existing road surface conditions
less than five years in age.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Figures PR-1, PR-2 and PR-3 are included as attachments to this chapter.
(b)
At the conclusion of all trench backfilling operation, temporary
pavement is to remain in place for a minimum of 90 days or as directed
by the Town Engineer prior to the installation of any permanent pavement
restoration. This requirement may be waived only with permission from
the Town Department of Public Works or Engineering Division so as
to not delay critical Town capital improvements projects.
(c)
The applicant and/or the applicant's contractor will be
responsible to correct any problems with the excavated trench, temporary
and/or permanent pavement restoration for a period of one year from
notification from the applicant that the permanent pavement restoration
work has been completed. Since the Town or its authorized inspection
representatives may not be in attendance when the permanent pavement
restoration work has been completed, it is the responsibility of the
applicant or the applicant's subcontractor to contact the Department
of Public Works for road work permit applications and the Town's
Engineering Division for the Town's capital improvements projects
in order to provide notification for the date of when the permanent
pavement restoration is completed to initiate the one-year maintenance
period timeframe.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(d)
All construction work covered under the Town's Road Work
Application permit shall be subject to the inspection and approval
of the Department of Public Works and/or Engineering Division or their
duly authorized representative(s). It is the responsibility of the
applicant to contact and provide notification to the Department of
Public Works and/or Engineering Division at least 48 hours prior to
conducting any work. Any work that is found to be in noncompliance
with the requirements of the Road Work Permit approval and attached
supplements shall be reconstructed as required by the Department of
Public Works Director or Town Engineer. Additionally, if the applicant
performs the work without proper notification to the Town, then the
Town reserves the right to direct the applicant to redo the work as
outlined within the permit approval.
A.
The gross weight imposed on the highway by the wheels
of any one axle of a vehicle shall not exceed 22,400 pounds.
It shall be unlawful to transport or operate
over or upon any public highway in the Town any vehicle equipped with
two axles, the gross weight of which including its load exceeds 32,000
pounds when equipped with rubber tires, if the front and rear axles
are less than six feet apart, or 36,000 pounds if such axle spacing
is less than 12 feet apart, or any single vehicle with three or more
axles the gross weight of which including its load exceeds 40,000
pounds if the front and rear axles are less than 16 feet apart, or
44,000 pounds if such axle spacing is less than 20 feet apart, or
any vehicle of the tractor semitrailer class equipped with three or
more axles, the gross weight of which including its load exceeds 46,000
pounds if the front and rear axles of the combined unit are less than
22 feet apart, or 50,000 pounds if such axle spacing is less than
27 feet apart.
Any person violating the provisions of this
article shall pay a penalty of $50 and every day that any violation
continues shall constitute a separate offense.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former Art. V, Weight Limit on West Street
Bridge, adopted 8-13-1991 by Ch. No. 983 as § 11-35 of the
1991 Code (Ch. No. 1283), which immediately followed this section,
was repealed 5-14-2018 by Ord. No. 1916.
