HOULTON, Maine — The town of Houlton is taking steps to filter the material they use to treat roads when it snows or sleets after a number of motorists have complained to the town about their tires being flattened by sharp and large rocks in the mixture.
Town Manager Butch Asselin confirmed Friday that both he and Public Works Director Chris Stewart have fielded calls beginning as early as November about the gravel, sand and salt mixture being used.
“One individual brought in a cup full of rocks he picked up off the street,” Asselin said. “And another brought in a bag full. We understand why people are frustrated. But the public works department is going to screen the rocks, and hopefully that will help.”
Stewart, who started in the position in late October 2014, first approached the town council in November to explain that the material for the roads normally would have been ordered in mid-summer. Because public works was late in ordering, however, the department was given what was left from the gravel pit. Complaints about flat tires began after the town started using the bank-run gravel, which is the ungraded material from the gravel pit.
Screening the sand and gravel will reduce the size of the rocks in the material and hopefully result in fewer flat tires, Stewart said Friday.
The screener that will be used is a large sieve with holes no larger than a half inch that the bank-run gravel will be sifted through before it is emptied into the plow trucks.
“It won’t get rid of all the flat tires, but we hope it’s going to get rid of as many as possible,” Stewart said.
That should be good news for several Houlton residents, who said they had spent hundreds of dollars patching tires or purchasing new ones this winter.
Tony Bulley said he spent $500 after getting two flat tires three weeks ago.
“I was not happy,” he said Friday.
Michael Matheson, another Houlton resident, has experienced four flat tires this winter. He said a friend came to his home to drop off his son after hockey practice and also got a flat tire on his road.
“I ended up buying a plug kit from Wal-Mart,” he said. “It has all been shards of ledge.”
Jason Howe said he has had two flat tires this year, and did not learn about one until an inopportune moment.
“Last time we got it at the beginning of a snowstorm,” he said.” I did not realize it until there was 16 inches of snow on the ground.”
Kelly Estabrook said when she experienced her flat tire and went to Hogan Tire in Houlton, the salesman told her she was the fifteenth person in there that day due to rocks on the road.
Brian Brown, Houlton Truck Stop store manager at Hogan Tire on North Road, said that while most of the uptick in tire repair and replacement has been going to the Bangor Street store, he has seen an uptick as well.
“We get at least one a day,” he said Friday evening, adding it is mostly sharp rocks embedding themselves in or piercing tires. “It looks like crushed shale.”
Asselin said the town has not been immune, as two of the police department cruisers have suffered flat tires.
Both Asselin and Stewart said that next year, the town will be ordering the road treatment material earlier and paying more attention to what is used on the roads.