By Paul Tennant
ptennant@eagletribune.com
October 06, 2008 10:01 am HAVERHILL — Anne Lambert, who has lived on Hilldale Avenue for 27 years, refuses to drive her Cadillac on the northern end of her street because she fears the bumpy road will damage her car. "I don't want to take a chance," said Lambert, who lives with her husband, Edmond, at 731 Hilldale Ave. In the spring, the city dug up the road to extend the sewer line along Hilldale Avenue from Rosemont Street to Fondi Road, near the Atkinson, N.H., line. Then, just over a week ago, the city began to grind up the temporary surface to make way for a permanent paving. The extensive rain, however, interrupted that project. The result: A substantial portion of Hilldale Avenue was left in a rutted, bumpy, jagged condition. In some places, manholes rise 4 inches above the surface. Drivers coming from Haverhill often get a surprise when they confront the poor road conditions. As of late last week, there were no orange barrels or other warning devices on the road. "They dug it up and walked away," Anne Lambert said. "I want to apologize to them for the inconvenience," Mayor James Fiorentini said when asked about drivers' complaints concerning the road. He said he expects crews to start repaving the road today. Janet Johnson, of 65 Crawford St., whose side yard is along Hilldale Avenue, can hear cars hitting some of the ruts in the road. "We'll say, 'What is that?'" she said. "I'd like to see it fixed." "It's in a bad condition. The street is really bad. Why didn't they finish it?" said Tyseer Sarabi, of 866 Hilldale Ave. Furthermore, Sarabi said he can't connect his home to the sewer pipe because of the design of the extended system. "This does not benefit us," he said. Fiorentini, however, said when the sewer line is extended from Fondi Road to the New Hampshire border, other Hilldale Avenue residents should be able to hook up to it. "That's our goal," he said. The prime mission of extending the pipeline is to provide sewer service to companies choosing to locate at the city's upper Hilldale Avenue industrial park. Sarabi's son Ahmad, who is working toward a civil engineering degree at UMass Lowell, shook his head at the condition of the road. "The temporary patches are horrible," he said. The younger Sarabi said he expects to build roads and sewers in his career. Nancy Parker, who lives at 772 Hilldale Ave., across from where Rosemont Street meets Hilldale Avenue, noted the cars driving on the wrong side of the road. "It's disgraceful," she said. While Fiorentini regrets the problems on Hilldale, he said extending the sewer line — and improving the road — are "absolutely critical" to the city's economic development. His chief of staff, Andrew Herlihy, said the land along Hilldale is in an industrial zone. Much of the land at the upper end of Hilldale is open space, but both Fiorentini and Herlihy said the area would be ideal for biotechnology firms. Fiorentini said he intends to name a biotechnology task force to attract such businesses to Haverhill.
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