To the editor:

Back in the summer of 1999, the Luck Brothers came through and replaced the water, sewer lines and storm drains on Broadway. They started at the stop light on Broadway and Bloomingdale Avenue and if I remember correctly replaced everything as far as the Veteran’s Club and maybe a bit further. It was the summer of dust city with all those lines being replaced and the road being tore up. But the work needed to be done.

Five layers were laid down as I remember counting them. Unfortunately, with our winters, over time, the asphalt wears down. The result is that we have pothole after pothole.

Well, I’ve had the same potholes in front of my place for a few years now. The sizeable holes are around the storm drain. Every time someone drives by, they hit those potholes and splash water everywhere. If you walk by and those holes are filled with water, you can expect to get drenched. One year, I had so much water splashing that it took the paint off the bottom of my building.

So what’s been done about it? Those holes have repeatedly been filled with cold patch. Unfortunately, the cold patch doesn’t last long. If you’re lucky, that cold patch will stay. But in my holes, it lasts a few months or comes out shortly after it’s been laid down.

When all the snow melted, I found last year’s cold patch all over my sidewalk, up against my building and in the road. It was everywhere. And of course the potholes were quite noticeable. A few weeks ago, those potholes were filled around 5 a.m. I wondered how long that cold patch would stay. By the afternoon, I went out and saw that some of that cold patch had already left. So much for that fix. And a few weeks ago, the water splashing from those holes hit my windows and froze.

I realize our winters wreck havoc with our roads. And I also figure cold patch is used because it’s cheap and a quick fix. But when is someone going to finally fill the holes around my storm drains that last?

Wendy Foley

Saranac Lake