Potholes, like the one shown here, can be found throughout Chautauqua County – thanks to freezing and thawing combined with a high volume of traffic. (Photo Source: Wikipedia)
JAMESTOWN – The road repair and construction season is just around the corner and officials in the city of Jamestown are finalizing plans on how to best allocate this year’s highway budget.
City Department of Public Works Director Jeff Lehman said the winter was especially rough on several city roads, so he’s pleased that the state was able to increase funding for local road repair projects – to the tune of $85,000.
“It’s a fantastic addition to the money that we already get. We’ll factor that into our roads’ budget this year, which will allow us to do a couple more streets probably,” Lehman told WRFA, adding, “Conversely, we have a lot more road projects because of the weather we’ve had this past winter. Fifth St. is a great example. That was a street that wasn’t even on our radar before this year and now it’s in pretty rough shape.”
The additional $85,000 that Jamestown will be getting is part of $40 million that was added to the state budget as part of a one-shot “extreme weather assistance” pothole fund, established in response to the unusually harsh winter. The city council will act on accepting the additional money during its upcoming voting session on April 28.
Lehman says he and his staff have been working on a list of projects and he hopes to present it to the Jamestown City Council in the next few weeks. In the meantime, any residents who want to make the city aware of streets or roads that need attention should notify DPW officials.
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