April 23, 2010
by Charles I. Poret
Dear Editor,
As a town resident of over 36 years I have long held and voiced concerns over the ever deteriorating and hazardous condition of the unpaved portion of Old Roaring Brook Road running down to the Saw Mill River Parkway. In short, after every rain the road morphs into an obstacle course filled with multiple and deep potholes. These potholes are not only a danger to public safety, but are the cause of substantial number of tire blowouts and accidents by persons using this town road.
On April 20 I, along with other town residents, attended a working session that the Town Board scheduled to address this problem. After hearing Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard succinctly review this long standing issue and the need to resolve it, and listening to a thorough presentation by the Commissioner of Public Works of ways to eliminate this hazard and the costs to the town of constantly sending work crews to fill in the potholes after every rain, the residents who attended were able to express their views of the situation.
While everyone agreed that something had to be done, some speakers favored paving the road while others wanted to explore ways that the road could remain unpaved while eliminating the pothole problem and related safety hazards. The consensus was that most of the problems are caused by inadequate drainage and water run off from some properties without adequate riparian buffers.
Although questions remained unresolved – whether to pave and widen the road, whether to use asphalt or oil-and-chip, whether paving will fix the drainage problem – Supervisor Barbara Gerrard assured residents that she would find answers to the questions they had raised and continue the discussion in a follow-up meeting.
Charles I. Poret
Where the paving stops
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