Once the weather clears, road crews will be busy around Erie County. Highway officials say this relatively mild winter means a chance to dig into the backlog of repairs and make some progress in shortening that list, also easier now because hot asphalt plants are starting up.
Erie County Highway Commissioner Bill Geary says some repairs will be visible at the roadside.
"One of the key successes to any road is the drainage. So, we've been able to go out and do some ditching and stay on top of the ditching requests that come in to open up those ditches that may have been somewhat clogged up over the years with sediment and debris," Geary said.
"However, we still have a good amount of plows and salters at the ready, especially with the upcoming weather."
Eden is starting its brush pickups and major repairs on Erie County's Goodrich Road start Monday. Eden Highway Superintendent Ron Maggs says digging up those roadside ditches is among his priorities because of the drainage issue.
Maggs says the early stages of this winter were so late a lot of work was done in the end of last year. Now, he just has to make sure there's money left in the budget in case next winter is more like last year than this year.
"We are getting ahead on some of the stuff that you may not physically see with a patch of asphalt. But, it's just as important, the drainage and keeping those ditches and everything open so that the road does drain properly. The other benefit of that too with the warmer weather, the hot asphalt mix that we typically don't see until the middle of April plants are starting to open up," added Geary.
Geary says only about half his trucks are available for road work because they are still fitted with their snow plows because it may be spring on the calendar it doesn't look like it out the window on Monday morning.
