Nice work if you can get it on Route 100 rumble strips
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- October
- 29
Documents released this week by the state Department of Transportation show that Paleen Construction Corp. in Somers was paid over $40,000 for two days work to gouge out four miles of rumble strips on Route 100 in Yorktown and Somers.
The questionable highway “safety†project has created dangers for cyclists on what used to be one of the safest stretches of state road in Westchester County. Just this week, we learned of a fourth cyclist who was injured on the road.
State policy restricts rumble strips to limited access highway, where they can alert drowsy drivers who have veered onto the shoulder. The policy allows them on two-lane roads in cases where there is a proven history of drift-off road accidents. Data shows there were seven such accidents over six years, hardly a proven history. The data also shows that this stretch of Route 100 is twice as safe as the average state road.
Paleen Construction, whose offices are on Route 100 a few miles north of the disputed project, was paid $41,723 for the work, which took two days to complete. A look at the documents provides a glimpse at how your tax dollars were spent.
The state paid Paleen $24,549 to use its milling machine on the road for a day. Paleen received an additional $13,138 to apply a water-based emulsion sealant to the asphalt, which has already begun to seriously deteriorate, with several potholes developing before the freeze-thaw cycle.
Two laborers worked two days on the job. Paleen charged the state $56.89 an hour per worker for their time. Two flag persons were also there for two days. Paleen charged the state $43.14 an hour for each flag person’s time.
Paleen received $900 to haul away 100 cubic yards of asphalt millings to the DOT yard on Route 100.
The injured cyclist, Richard Wilt, lives on Boone Road, which intersects Route 100 in Yorktown. He was riding down to Route 100 on June 26 when he hit the rumble strips unexpectedly. It’s a road that he has ridden on for years, but wasn’t prepared for the roadway gouges. He went down hard, smacked his face on the pavement, chipped two teeth and split his lip so badly it took three stitches to close.
He recently filed a notice of claim with the state of New York, which is the first step in the legal process that will take him to the state Court of Claims in hopes that he can get his medical bills covered.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 at 8:50 AM by David McKay Wilson. 
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