With pot holes popping up on area roads, local drivers are feeling the effects of the long winter. Erie County is already starting to prepare for the work ahead.
Survivors of last winter remember the devastation of the roads once winter went away. It was so bad the County Legislature threw in an additional $5 million for road repairs and almost all of that was spent. It didn't mean all of the county's bad roads and bridges were repaired.
Legislature Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo is a critic of county highway management and wants repairs started as early as possible this spring.
"We do (know) what roads were in rough shape before the winter and we know what roads were scheduled to be done going forward in the spring. What we can do that we didn't do in 2014 is start those projects sooner," Lorigo said.
"There were projects that were held up because the administration didn't get things going until late August or early September that could have been started in June."
Deputy Public Works Commissioner Bill Geary says he agrees and some planning is underway and there is new equipment coming in, like new dump trucks and rollers for road patching. He says the problem is that turmoil in Albany and Washington means the county is much more on its own financially, with the days of the federal government paying 75 percent of the cost of a $2 million bridge gone.
