Erie County announces $49.6 million roadwork program

Depew, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's officially roadwork season in Western New York, and Erie County has launched its roadwork program with a total of $49.6 million of investment this year over 113 miles of County roads.

"It's, of course, always a very busy time of season. We wait expectedly for the weather to break so we can get out there and start doing work, and we need to do some work this year. There's no doubt about it," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz during a press conference along Borden Road in the Village of Depew on Tuesday. "Last year was a tough year on the roads, because of the issues associated with the temperature changes, the warm temperatures, the cooler temperatures. But we have a really big program scheduled for this year across Erie County's roads."

Every year, Erie County attempts to work on about 10% of the roads in the County, with this year seeing a little less than 10% of the 1,200 centerline miles of road being tended to.

The project taking place on Borden Road this year is one of the major reconstruction projects taking place that will see new storm sewer, sanitary sewers, as well as a new road being inserted. It will be a three-year project to complete, with 2023 being the first year of the project after some pre-construction work took place last year

"We talk about complete reconstruction, we're talking about not just taking the top layer of the road off and putting new blacktop down. We're talking about reconstructing everything, all the way down to the sewers," Poloncarz said. "What we're finding out is many of the projects that were done 50, 60 years ago, the storm sewers, the sanitary sewers are reaching their lifespan. That's why we have to go in and do these massive projects."

There will be a number of other major reconstruction projects on roads across Erie County coming this year, including Kenmore Avenue in the Town of Tonawanda, Vermont Street in the Town of Holland, Back Creek Road in the Town of Collins, Trevett Road in the Town of Concord, East and West Road in the Town of West Seneca and more.

The County will also be doing mill and overlay projects scheduled for Towns like Lancaster, Sardinia, Amherst, Grand Island, West Seneca, Cheektowaga, Lackawanna, Eden and Boston this year. In addition, other projects like cold cycle and top course treatment projects will be taking place in the Towns of Colden, Holland, Wales, Lancaster, Sardinia, Collins, Concord, Hamburg and Boston.

In addition, $3 million has been provided to the City of Buffalo from Erie County for Urban Initiatives, which will be used for infrastructure and roads in the City.

"We have another big year for road and infrastructure improvements. You're gonna see our crews all around the County, our contractors, our maintenance crews, and they're going to be hard at work to improve our roads and improve our bridges," said Deputy Commissioner for the Erie County Department of Public Works and the Highway Division, Karen Hoak. "I ask that everybody is aware and minds for a safe work zone. The men and women of Department of Public Works want to get home safe at night, so just be mindful of signs, traffic patterns, and pay attention to flaggers. Our department also continues with our maintenance work, and is working on addressing issues across the County. Filling potholes, making sure that everything's taken care of. We just ask for your cooperation and patience as you're moving through the work zones so we can accomplish everything here."

Poloncarz makes mention of the Department of Public Works' social media pages as an excellent way to get information of what roads are under construction any given day in their "In The Works" posts. He says to check that page every morning to find out what's going on across the County.

"It's Buffalo and Erie County. We have tough winters, we had a really tough winter this last one. While we didn't have many days of snow, of course, we had some tremendous days of snow, and that constant freeze/thaw had an impact on our roads. So we're getting back out there with a $50 million plan this year," Poloncarz added. "Please be patient when you see road projects, because the men and women of our Department of Public Works want to get those done as quickly as possible. But the best way they can get them done as quickly as possible is if they had the least amount of interference. So always follow flagger orders, and we'll get through the season as always."