A harsh winter left many areas throughout Albany County with heavily damaged roads, prompting the state to funnel additional money to local municipalities to tackle surface and pothole repairs.
State Sen. Cecila Tkaczyk, in a statement supporting the “extreme weather” addition to the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, said, “I have driven 20,000 miles on the roads of this district since the fall, and I’ve seen firsthand the toll this winter took. … Without additional resources, local municipalities simply would not be able to handle road repairs in a timely fashion. I felt it was absolutely critical to get these additional funds into the budget.”
Across the state, communities are receiving an extra $40 million for extreme winter weather assistance. Included in the state budget was $438 million for the Consolidated Highway Improvement System, or CHIPS. Albany County municipalities will receive $7.5 million for local highway, road and bridge repair projects.
This is welcome news to local highway superintendents who said this winter has pushed their resources to the max.
“From a road maintenance standpoint, it was tough,” said Town of Colonie Department of Public Works commissioner Jack Cunningham. “It was colder than normal, and we had a long period of cold temps where the ground was frozen for a long period of time. We ended up using all of our salt budget and all our overtime, and we have a lot of potholes.”
Town of Bethlehem Highway Superintendent Brent Meredith said the town’s salt stores took a hit this year. The town will be receiving an additional $36,000 in extreme aweather aid to its $316,000 in CHIPS funding.
“This year we purchased 2,989 tons of salt. Last year we used 1,890 tons. The year before that, we purchased 2,498 tons. The average over the last five years is 2,943. With a similar amount, we may have had a full salt shed at the end of winter and this year that isn’t the case,” said Meredith.
Guilderland, which will see almost $32,000 in additional aid to its $284,000 also experienced stretched resources.
“We’re maxed out on everything,” said Guilderland Highway Superintendent Steven Oliver. “This year took it to the wire, and I’m glad it’s over.”
Oliver said he hopes next winter holds off a bit.
“We still have September, October, November, December and January in the beginning of next year’s winter. They all go on the budget so I’m hoping the winter gets off to a slow start,” said Oliver.
One of the main reasons for the extensive road damage this winter was the extended periods of time where the temperature remained below freezing.
“It’s basically an issue of cold weather. The frost penetrates the ground, and with a deep freeze, it causes heaves and other things as the ground gets warmer. The ground doesn’t thaw at the same time, and that causes some crazy things to happen,” said Meredith. “It’s been a while since we have had a winter where it was just cold for days on end.”
Cunningham said the damage just compounds as the roads start to thaw following a deep freeze. Colonie will receive about $64,000 in extreme weather aid and about $563,000 in CHIPS aid.
“The prolonged periods below freezing temperatures prevented the frost from thawing out. The frost was 3.5 inches below the roads, and it’s usually about two inches, when roads start to thaw, the older roads crumble underneath and move up to the roads surface and cause it to crumble,” said Cunningham.
Municipalities are welcoming the extra money, which will be put toward repairing roads that have been deteriorating and replenishing salt stores. The money also helps to fill the gaps left by past years when budgets have been low. The highway departments have been setting up schedules for which roads will be fixed during construction season.
“What we try to do with the CHIPS is to pave 10 to 12 miles of town roads every year. We have a list and have been out checking roads. This is the time to evaluate work with other departments to make sure we aren’t fixing something they will be tearing up,” said Meredith. “Typically, we spend around $800,000 a year on road repairs. Part of CHIPS goes to that. Depending on the timing of when we get the money, we’re probably going to go towards salt.”
Oliver said the town has to set priorities.
“We try to keep up with main roads first, and we’ll work our way through secondary roads and developments. Some of the $31,000 (in extreme weather recovery) will go towards outlying roads,” said Oliver.
Cunningham said that even with the financial help, damage to the roads this year are so extensive that some resources will be stretched thin.
“We’ll definitely run out of money even with the increase in CHIPS and this year,” said Cunningham. “I’ll probably do about $500,000 in paving. We’re looking at $150,000 to $175,000 in patch work alone.”