Potholes, ruts and subpar patchwork have rendered a stretch of Route 172 increasingly unsafe, the Town Board told Albany last month in urging state officials to repave the heavily traveled thoroughfare.
From Sunnyfield Farm’s entrance and running three-quarters of a mile to the Fox Lane driveway — carrying middle and high school students twice daily — the road’s “unacceptable condition” endangers cars and their occupants, the board said in a resolution directed at the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
“A formal resolution from the board is one thing I think they always like to see,” Supervisor Ellen Calves said of DOT officials. State legislators, she added, also prefer to have a resolution “to help them push our project over the line [for funding].”
Councilmember Thomas Catoliato introduced the measure at the board’s Sept. 8 meeting, called the text “timely and pertinent.”
Despite numerous requests from town residents and officials, Catoliato said, “it has been more than 14 years since New York State has paved this road and for some portions maintenance has not been performed in as much as 20 years.”
The board, citing its “responsibility to protect the health and safety of our residents and those passing through our town,” voted unanimously to ask that “the entire portion of . . . roadbed” be paved now.
“We know that this road is not on their paving list for next year,” Calves said, encouraging private citizens to speak up. “They do take note of resident complaints,” she said of DOT officials. “They keep track of them. . . . They’re hearing it, and I think they need to keep on hearing it from residents as well [as local governments].”
Two Bedford Village residents — Kevin McAvey, via Zoom, and Clayton Rose, at the town hall lectern —spoke in support of the board’s action.
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