Race To Fill Hauppauge Potholes Is On

Road repairs are underway in Hauppauge after what has been a record-breaking season of snowstorms, blizzards and ice. Smithtown and Islip Town employees are using milder weather to begin "Operation Pothole" and assessing road damage. 

Smithtown's Superintendent of Highways Glenn Jorgensen said that work has already begun on the main highways and workers are now moving to the secondary roads.

“[We] hit the main drags first, the heavy traffic streets we get, what gets the most traffic we get,” Jorgensen said. “If I get a call on say Rosedale Avenue, I go down the street and fix everything, now if you call that there is one bad pothole we may end up fixing five on that street – we’ll get the call for one and see another four and fix them while we’re there. Most of the calls I get are when the potholes are bad and then we fix the minor ones while we’re on that street also.”

Some Hauppauge Roads that have been hit particularly hard this winter include Blydenburgh Road, Hoffman Lane, Old Willets Path and Townline Road. Other road problems include flooding on Canterbury Drive. 

Rich Baker, commissioner of Islip's Department of Public Works, said his roadway crews have filled more than 6,000 potholes this year - down from more than 19,000 last year - but January storms have prevented crews from working frequently. 

 Lee Jackson, tow truck operator for AAA through Smithwest Service Center in Saint James, said he’s answered more calls for dead batteries than flat tires as of late, and has not encountered many potholes that could potentially badly damage your vehicle.

“I really didn’t come across that much. There are minor rough areas of road, like Townline [Road] has a lot of rough spots to it but no really big craters in the ground,” he said.

 Town of Smithtown started the repairs early this year according to Jorgensen, and began using a “cold patch” or cold asphalt to make repairs, but have recently switched to a “hot patch.”

 “We’re using hot asphalt now, we’re picking that up at the asphalt plant. Wherever they make asphalt we go pick it up with a hotbox – it’s like a patch-box that keeps the asphalt hot,” he said. “Last week nobody was making asphalt now we were using what we call a cold patch and that’s a different product and it’s a temporary fix.”

 Jorgensen said the weather has been so detrimental to some roadways that the hot patches may not be enough to keep the roads in good shape and summer road repairs will be necessary.

Islip Town has been employing different technology to fix its potholes. Baker said the Town uses an environmentally-friendly hot patch machine that recycles crumbled asphalt by heating it and patching roadways. In addition, it has purchased a  new spray injection system that uses an asphalt-based tar to inject a permanent patch material into existing potholes. 

"It’s a new technology for us on Long Island. We’re one of the first towns to start doing it," Baker said. "I wish I had two more machines because they are incredible. You don’ t have to go back and fix up a temporary patch." 

Despite these repairs, Baket said Islip Town expects to repave approximately 45 lane miles of roadway in 2011. Highway inspectors have headed out to start grading local roadways on sale of 1 - 10, with the lowest at 1 and 2's being repaved. 

"I have a saying that potholes start popping up with the ground hog on Ground Hogs Day. Whether the ground hog sees its shadow or doesn’t see its shadow, its when we start filling potholes by the thousands. That’s not just Islip, that’s in every township on Long Island," Baker said.  

 Town of Smithtown residents see a roadway with potholes that could potentially cause major damage to vehicles to call the Highway Department at 631-360-7500, and that after the calls are logged in repairs should be done within 24 to 48 hours.