SALAMANCA — With roadwork season in New York state underway, city Department of Public Works crews have been out patching and repairing roads across the city with a focus on one of its main routes in the east end.
Central Avenue saw the worst winter damage but has been the primary target for early pothole filling and patching so far this spring.
After work on Central Avenue is complete, DPW Superintendent Rob Carpenter will move his crews down to the Clinton Street-Wildwood Avenue intersection and work their way west to Broad Street, Mayor Michael Smith said.
“(Carpenter) has split the crew in half … and has a smaller crew going around trying to fill the big tear-your-wheel-off holes,” he said. “With such a warm-and-cold winter, that’s why this year is so bad. Not that you pray for a long, cold winter, but a long, cold winter makes the roads easier.”
Although city crews are filling the holes, New York state pays the city to maintain their arterials through the city, even though they are state highways. A pre-determined dollar figure is given to the city for “routine maintenance,” Smith said.
The Gernatt Asphalt plant in Great Valley opened two weeks early, Smith said, which helped city crews begin working earlier than expected. Unfortunately, much of the work on Route 219 and Route 417 are only temporary fixes.
Mayor Smith said the city has been in regular communication with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office and the area’s New York state officials — including the offices of Assemblyman Joseph Giglio, R-Gowanda, and Senator Catharine Young, R-Olean — to have plans in place for repairing the state roads that run through the city.
“They’ve reacted, and it’s time now. It’s asphalt fixing time,” he said. “We appreciate the help that Senator Young and Assemblyman Giglio have given us. They’ve been a big help.”
Smith said the plan would be to take the roads all the way down through the concrete base instead of a 2-inch overlay which had been done previously.
“The plan for 2018 is Central Avenue, and then skipping the part of Wildwood Avenue we fixed with the Obama stimulus money and starting at the Wildwood split to the Clinton Bridge,” he said. “And then over and down Clinton Street as far as $1.7 million will go.”
In 2019, the project will continue where it left off in 2018 and continue down Broad Street to the west end, Smith said. He said a new culvert for Titus Creek to flow under Broad Street is also in the plans.
Besides the main highways, the Common Council and DPW plan to figure out which city streets will see repair and new overlay this summer at the April 19 board of public works meeting.
“We found out that the city had not applied for its CHIPS (Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program) funding for the last two years, so we have almost a half million dollars in unused CHIPS money,” Smith said. “We get about $270,000 a year … so we have two years back plus this year’s money, so we can get some work done on streets.”
Although the aldermen will decide which streets they’d like to see done in each of the city’s wards, Smith said the streets with higher-traffic needs will be in the discussion.
“A lot of them will be tar-and-chip. These are things our guys can do on their own that we don’t have to contract for,” Smith said. “(Carpenter) has a pretty good crew. Those guys work hard.”
Mayor Smith said he thanks Salamanca’s citizens and visitors passing through for their patience with fixing the roads. He also wants to remind drivers that just because Central Avenue will be fixed doesn’t mean the rest of the city is good to go.
“We know it’s been a long, hard spring, and it’s the freeze-thaws that caused road damage in January when it’s usually frozen solid,” he said. “Our crews have been on it full force since the asphalt plants opened and we’ll continue to be there until every pothole in the city is patched.”
