COLUMBIA CENTER – Herkimer County Highway Superintendent Jay Ewanyk
was at the Columbia Town Board meeting last Thursday to address the
public on the upcoming rehabilitation and reconstruction project of
Elizabethtown Road, also known as County Route 43. More than a dozen
people who live on the road attended the meeting.
The project is about three-quarters of a mile in length and goes to State Route 51.
Ewanyk said the objectives of the project are to widen the road to
acceptable standards, restore pavement and shoulders to provide a
satisfactory riding surface, improve drainage, and improve the safety
of the traveling public along these sections of roadway.
Ewanyk said the plans were in the preliminary stages and should be
finalized in January. He also said a feasible alternative to the
project would be to rehabilitate the road with limited construction.
“The existing road will be widened and drainage improvement and subbase
improvements and new pavement will be incorporated into the project,”
Ewanyk wrote in an informational packet handed out to the public.
Approximately 1,600 feet of road will be reconstructed with subbase
gravel being installed to improve strength and adjust elevation to the
design profile. In order to improve drainage, subsurface storm water
pipe and catch basins and curbs will be installed on the westerly side
of Elizabethtown Road.
A concrete gutter will be installed on the easterly side from
Jordanville Road to approximately 250 feet. The remaining easterly
portion will have open ditches. The travel lanes will be 10 feet wide
with two-foot paved shoulders in this section.
A resident asked Ewanyk if he could guarantee water flow to
properties on both sides of the road. “I can’t guarantee anything,”
Ewanyk said. “What we will be doing will not disrupt the water flow to
your property.”
Ewanyk said the estimated cost of the project is $400,000, and the project will be competitively bid on.
Ewanyk anticipates the contract will be awarded in May with the
construction starting shortly after that and being completed in October
2006. Ewanyk said the highway department hopes to maintain traffic
during construction. “We expect to have at least single lane traffic at
all times.”
Ewanyk said anyone who wants a personal consultation about the
project, at their property, can call the Herkimer County Highway
Department to make an appointment.
In other matters, George Weiss, Columbia’s supervisor, presented the
tentative 2006 budget to the Town Board. The board voted to make it the
preliminary budget and scheduled a public hearing for Nov. 10. Weiss
said the preliminary budget has an increase of 64 cents per $1,000 of
home assessment.
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