Modified: January 23, 2015 2:10pm
Erie County to Conduct $36 Million in Road, Bridge, and Dam Projects
ERIE COUNTY, NY— Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today announced the Erie County Department of Public Works’ Division of Highways’ 2013 Schedule of highway, bridge, culvert, and dam projects, which includes approximately 60 projects in 17 municipalities across Erie County. Total spending for the slate of projects, covering roads, bridges, dams, and culverts, and funded from County, federal and state monies, is estimated at $36 million.
“This schedule of work reaches into all corners of Erie County and demonstrates my administration’s commitment to improving our infrastructure for all residents,” said Poloncarz. “This is my administration’s first capital budget and we are investing more County resources in our roads and bridges than the prior administration did in its last two years. Moreover, with a County investment of $12,240,000 we are leveraging an additional $23,765,000 in federal and state funds. Erie County has more lane miles of road than the states of Delaware, Rhode Island, and Hawaii, and maintaining them will always be a priority of my administration.”
The projects include major reconstruction to heavily trafficked roads including the long-awaited reconstruction of East Robinson and North French Roads between Niagara Falls Boulevard and Sweet Home Road in Amherst that will convert the road to a five lane highway. Other key projects include major rehabilitation projects to portions of Stony Road and Penora Street in Lancaster, new overlays to Como Park Boulevard and Losson Road in Cheektowaga, and Eggert Road and Youngs Road in Amherst. The County will also conduct road and safety work on Strickler Road and County Road in Clarence, the site of several serious accidents and community concern.
In addition, the County will conduct reconstruction and in-house work on several roads that area residents have consistently identified as problems in informal surveys, including Stony Road in Lancaster, Highland Parkway in the Town of Tonawanda, and Hopkins Road in Amherst. Maple Street in Aurora, which had issues this past winter, has already been improved by the County this Spring.
Poloncarz added, “Residents and motorists have complained for years about the condition of certain high-traffic County roads in Cheektowaga, Tonawanda, Amherst, and Lancaster. I am pleased to announce that our 2013 highway projects will address many of these roads and help to improve our infrastructure through a major investment of County, federal, and state funds.”