DPW Street Projects 2021

The Jamestown Department of Public Works completed a record amount of street projects in 2021.

A total of $2,468,000 in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPS, funding along with Pave New York, Emergency Winter Recovery, and State Touring Roads funds bolstered projects this year.

Department of Public Works Director Jeff Lehman said they were excited to get additional funding from CHIPS but it was difficult getting projects bid on by contractors, “Particularly during the COVID years when the contractors were backed up already because they couldn’t get into a good start. But we did manage to get everything out the door. But because of the amount of projects, a couple of projects didn’t get done. They’re still contracted but will be finished up next year. But we were pretty excited about it and got quite a bit of work done.”

In Jamestown, the DPW used the funds to:
– Construct over 5,800 feet of new sidewalk.
– Build 8,100 feet of new curbs.
– Build 90 new handicap ramps.
– Blacktop 18,300 feet of pavement
– Surface treat and maintenance coat over 57,000 feet of pavement surface
– Applied 2,300 gallons of liquid asphalt crack seal .
– Repaired 7,900 square feet of brick pavement.
– Built 65 new driveway aprons.
– Laid 1,400 feet of new storm sewer pipe.
– And built new or reconstructed 30 Catch Basins and Drain Inlets.

Chautauqua County is receiving $6.6 million dollars total in CHIPS, Pave-NY, and Extreme Winter Recovery Funding. County Department of Public Facilities Director Brad Bentley said the additional funding is critical to supporting the economy and will make a difference, “This will allow us to pave about 32 miles of our 550 miles of road this year. Typically we get about 15, so about half of that so we’re going to see a significant difference in the quality of our roads. As well as we’ll be able to repair 16 to 18 our 308 bridges in our county, which is an increase above what we normally do.”

Bentley said his budget usually has $4.5 million dollars to spend on road and bridge work and the County DPF is receiving an additional $2.1 million dollars this year.

State Senator Borrello said the State Touring Program is a new program this year that addresses fixing a state road that doesn’t have an identifier, so it’s known as a “touring route,” “These are often roads that, sometimes you turn off a major road and you get on a kind of bumpy side road but it goes through a neighborhood and area. Those are those touring routes. And they often get forgotten, quite honestly, but not by the people who have to drive on them every day.”

The City of Jamestown will receive $561,924 to do maintenance and upgrades for these state touring routes.

Senator Catherine Young (R-Olean)

ALBANY – Chautauqua County’s representative in the State Senate is taking the area’s pothole problems to Albany.

Senator Catharine Young (R-Olean) is joining local highway superintendents from across New York State in calling for increased funding for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program – also known as CHIPS. The CHIPS program is designed to alleviate the local tax burden by helping municipal governments meet costly infrastructure needs.

This year, communities – including Jamestown – will see minimal to no additional increase in CHIPS funding, which will make it especially difficult to repair damaged streets caused by what’s been a rough winter for area roadways.

In a media release, Senator Young said she is concerned about safety issues associated with potholes that are causing drivers to swerve on the road, and are blowing out tires.

CHIPS provides State funds to municipalities to support the construction, repair, and maintenance of highways, bridges, and roads that are not part of the State highway system. In last year’s State budget Senator Young and her Senate Republican colleagues led the charge to secure an additional $75 million in CHIPS funding.

This year, she is pointing to the thousands of miles of damaged roadways across the state and calling on her colleagues to once again provide additional road funding for local governments.