Highways Division

Streets, Roads & Highways


 The Department is responsible for all the streets, roads and highways in Town that are not private or State owned. We do our best to provide safe, comfortable, scenic and economical infrastructure for the traveling public.

List of State Roads in Bow (PDF)

Winter Road Maintenance


During the winter months we attempt to maintain bare roads, even during storms. We attempt to do this using the minimum of salt so as not to create a water pollution problem. We pre-treat the roads at the on set of the storm to prevent the snow or ice from bonding to the roads surface, we begin scraping and plowing as soon as there is sufficient snow to plow. 

During the plowing operation we do not normally treat (sand or salt) the roads. At the conclusion of the storm and during the last plowing pass the roads are treated as needed to cause residual snow or ice to melt and run off the roads or sand is applied to provide traction until the temperature rises to above the freezing point.


Winter Maintenance Routes


The Department has divided the town into 10 winter maintenance routes. Each route requires about the same amount of time to maintain, even though some routes are twice as long as others. Some winter maintenance routes have many intersections or are located some distance from our base of operations, which requires more time for fewer miles. 


When We Start Winter Maintenance


We activate our winter maintenance operation as soon as the roads start to get slippery. During the off hours our Police Department will notify us if there starts to be a road problem. We stay on the job from the start of the storm until the conclusion. During storms of extended duration we will divide the crew in half over night to allow some crew members to get much needed sleep.