You know, Steve has been saying how the roads are getting better, that they're going through a series of years of repaving roads to make them look nice. I think with all the issues we're having, the water main break, the Masullo drainage issue, as well as the Sunrise Estates drainage issue, maybe it's time to put aside the repaving for good looks and instead keep that money set aside to fix some of the water issues.
Dunno what's happening here, but they just paved over the hole ... it's as bad now as it was before. The road is all heaved right on the intersection, can't even get down that side street between capital plaza and the bank ... anyone know what's happening with this?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
What a disaster are for cripes sake. This is terrible and now it reminds me of driving through downtown schenectady. Note to Steve T- get your guys to pave over there.
Rotterdam okays Altamont Avenue repairs (Schenectady County, Rotterdam)
Posted on: 07/16/08 Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com
Badly needed repairs to a 40 year-old water main on Altamont Avenue will move forward expediently, according to town officials.
At its meeting on Wednesday, July 9, the Rotterdam Town Board voted to authorize Supervisor Steven Tommasone to approve an emergency contract with McDonald Engineering of Schenectady to prepare plans for the replacement of the water main, which burst earlier this month, sending geysers of water up through the road and closing traffic at one of the town’s busiest intersections for more than 10 hours.
Road crews made temporary repairs to the site but, according to Highway Superintendent Jim Longo, a stretch pipe under the state-owned road from Stuart Street to Tower Road will need major repairs.
Tommasone estimates that roadwork will cost the town “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”He said the work would be funded through Water District 5, the largest district in the town with nearly 11,000 units. Tommasone said the District has funds in its reserves that should pay for the entirety of the project.
“Reserve funds are for occurrences just like this,” said Tommasone. “They’re funds you can rely on without just going to the taxpayer.”
Tommasone said he’s hopeful that work will be completed by summer’s end. The replacement of the12-inch water main will likely cause detours near the intersection of Altamont Avenue and Curry Road when work begins.
The town will need state approval from the Department of Transportation before road construction can occur.
DOT Spokesman Peter Van Keuren said the state generally acts quickly when a municipality needs to make emergency repairs.
“We’ll look at the roads and pretty much give the go ahead,” said Van Keuren.
According to Van Keuren, the state has no major plans to reconstruct the road, which he said remains stable despite the town’s problem with its aged water main.
“Condition-wise, there’s nothing wrong with the road,” he said. “Replacing the water main would be the responsibility of the town.”
Still, Longo said the road was badly damaged after traffic vibrations cause the water main to rupture earlier this month. The same pipe burst in September, forcing the town to make $125,000 worth of temporary emergency repairs, between Elizabeth Street and Tower Street.
Tommasone called the water main break a “wakeup call.” He said the town would continue to look to replace old infrastructure when it can.
“Many of the lines in town are 50 years old and over time they will need to be replaced,” said Tommasone.
Altamont Avenue was last reconstructed by the state in the late 1980s when it widened the road, according to Van Keuren. That project, which included the addition of a 12-foot safety median with left turn lanes at four intersections and 11-foot traffic lanes cost the state $6.7 million. You can contact marvinr@spotlightnews.com with any questions. Also, feel free to post comments below. Readers had this to say Nobody has made any comments about this yet... you could be the first. Comment about this article
It's a damn shame we have sat back this long and have never taken inventory of what the town has/needs......in all those years where was all the $$$$$ going????
certainly not to anything that the ENTIRE town could benefit from whether they be sewers on Hamburg or water tower in the juction etc etc.......
dirty rotten scoundrels ready to retire to Florida on the taxpayers back.....shame shame shame sham sham sham...........I hope they are bitter grapes for you.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
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ROTTERDAM Houlton Avenue project to cost less than thought BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Rotterdam appears to have caught a bit of a break on the cost of a drainage project set for Houlton Avenue. Town officials are expected to award the drainage and road reconstruction project to the Altamont-based Carver Construction Inc. The company was the lowest among four bidders for the project with $183,716, which was significantly lower than originally anticipated. Last month, Supervisor Steve Tommasone warned work on the road could cost the town in excess of $250,000. He said he was pleased to learn his estimate was off when the town opened bids for the project last week. “It’s been a good time to put projects out to bid,” he said Thursday during the Town Board agenda meeting. “The competition is working for us.” Poor drainage has caused the pavement to crumble along the quarter-mile-long stretch of road between Altamont Avenue and Crane Street. Some of the nearly two-dozen homes along the road are also affected by flooding, because years of paving projects have raised the street elevation above the level of some residences basements. The Houlton Avenue project is among three slated throughout Rotterdam. Later this month, town officials are expected open bids on a project to alleviate groundwater problems in the culdu-sac neighborhoods of Horizon Boulevard and Bluebird Estates. Cost estimates for the work range up to $220,000 Tommasone said the town’s Highway Department has begun preliminary road work on the long-awaited Masullo Estates project. But he said the project remains stalled until the town can receive permission to work on a property located at the end of East Lucile Lane.
For anyone who has to drive to Altamont Ave. today, avoid the area if you can. It is very congested from the light at Dunkin Donuts to the Beverage Center. There is only one lane of traffic to handle both directions near the Price Chopper. Take a different route if you can.
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