Roadwork not expected to start until late summer, possibly fall
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Recently Erie County has found itself at odds on how to pay for road projects.

Last Thursday, County Executive Joe Giambra made a statement that scheduled rehabilitation projects will be completed by the end of October.

"The work will be funded initially by an advance on cash from the general fund. Once the county conducts its 2007 capital borrowing, we will repay the general fund for the advance of cash," he said.

The 2007 Capital Program includes 24 miles of county roads for a total of $6 million.

Three Amherst roads are on the list, an estimated total of $400,000-$500,000, according to Supervisor of Engineering Wayne Scibor.

A half mile of roadway on Garrison Road between Main Street and Wehrle Drive will be repaved.

Scibor said the rehabilitation of Garrison is in preparation for next year's Wehrle Drive project. The county is anticipating increased traffic on Garrision, and this repaving will prepare it for the volume.

Once the project is under way it will take one to two weeks to complete, with flagmen controlling traffic flow.

On Maple Road, starting at Hopkins Road, the road will be smoothed and a final coat applied. The goal is to reach South Lyme, but Scibor said they would go as far as they could with the funding.

Complaints about faded striping on Maple, especially near North Forest Road, will be addressed soon, he said.

The rehab work on Maple, which at the most would be just under a mile, could take two to three weeks. He anticipates lane closures will take place and slow down traffic.

The third project in town is on North Forest Road at the Hairpin, near Bryant Woods. The tight curve in that area will be rehabbed to reduce the road's roughness.

That section is marked to be redone in another two to three years. This quarter mile of work is a temporary measure to make the road smoother, Scibor said.

Traffic will be directed by a flagman, and work should take less than a week.

"All are marked to begin later in the summer or the early fall," he said. "We haven't seen the money yet."

He added that all the projects and the length of work are depen- dent on weather.