by Valerie Hurley ·
Friday, May 1, 2026
The culvert that keeps Eldridge Road from sinking into the Elizabeth Brook Reservoir, known locally as Eldridge Pond, has deteriorated and will eventually collapse, according to DPW Director Eric Ryder. At Town Meeting May 2, and again at Town Election May 5, voters will be asked to approve the money required to repair the deteriorating culvert.
The project is expected to cost the town $800,000, the amount proposed in Article 10 to pay for construction. Ballot Question 2 asks for “the amount required” to pay for the project. Both the article and the ballot question must pass for the project to advance: the article by two-thirds vote, the ballot by a majority.
Excluded debt is debt that is exempt from the levy limitations of Proposition 2½. It allows Harvard to borrow money for a specific purpose and raise taxes to pay principal and interest on the loan.
The $800,000 will pay for the demolition and reconstruction of the culvert. The town has already been awarded a $100,000 grant from the state’s road repair program, Chapter 90, for construction costs. To pay for the design, the town has applied for $85,000 from the state’s Community Culvert Grant program but has yet to hear whether it has won the grant.
Ryder estimates that construction from start to finish could take around three months as detours and erosion control measures are put in place, the road is ripped up, a new 60-inch-diameter steel pipe is installed, and the culvert’s headwalls and the road are reconstructed.
What if voters reject the request at Town Meeting or at Town Election? Ryder said failing to replace the culvert would have “significant impact on the everyday life of residents and on public safety.” Approving the excluded debt would allow the town to address the problem “effectively and quickly,” and would avoid the need to shut the road down when it eventually washes away.
Eldridge Road turns off Stow Road in Harvard and leads to Boxborough, and then to Stow, where the road’s name changes to Taylor Road.
Registered voters can weigh in on Article 10 at Town Meeting, Saturday, May 2, starting at 10 a.m. at Bromfield. Question 2, to allow the debt exclusion, will be on the ballot at the May 5 Town Election at Hildreth Elementary School, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.