The Town Council will stick to the original plan for fixing roads this year, despite the fact that current funding for the repair program runs out after 2008, due to the defeat of two bonds in the March town election.

Hardy Road and North Amherst Road from Wallace Road to the end will be rehabilitated this year, according to Jim Stanford, the Public Works director. The following roads will be reclaimed and overlaid: Westview Road, Fairlane Drive, Whippoorwill Lane and Tirrell Hill Road.

The total cost for all the roads will be about $3.7 million. Stanford said the town saves money by pairing projects together and timing them with other work, such as the installation of a light at the intersection of Hardy Road and Route 101.

The council choose not to re-align the intersection of Gault, Liberty Hill and County roads near McKelvie Intermediate School. “I have a hard time building something new when so many roads are in disrepair,” said Town Councilor Michael Scanlon.

Not everyone agreed on taking the project off the list. Town Councilor Paul Roy said the intersection was more important now that the town is not reconstructing the intersection of Route 101 and Nashua Road. That work would have been funded through one of the bonds that failed in the election.

Roy said more drivers will now be passing through the Gault Road intersection. “That is going to be the one main funnel into that high school without that intersection at 101 and Nashua, so the gridlock is going to get worse,” Roy said.

The removal of the Gault Road project gives the town approximately $350,000 to make temporary repairs to a number of other roads in town that may not be able to wait a few years until full rehabilitation or reclamation.

Now that funding for the road program has been interrupted and its future is unclear, Scanlon said the town has to respond to the concerns of people living on those roads.

“I just don’t believe we can sit here for the next 10 months and tell people that you need to be patient,” he said.

The list of other roads which will be addressed through the $350,000 has not been determined. Stanford said he needs time to select the roads. The Public Works director said he had to have sound reasoning behind his recommendations for scheduling repairs.

“I can’t just say, ‘You know, do it by alphabetical order, do it by this,’ without something behind it,” he said. “Every time I come before the Town Council, it’s a recommendation from my professional team.”