May 24, 2006

Asphalt prices to determine road paving

This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at the challenge of paving roads on a fixed budget when asphalt prices keep climbing:

As major consumers of oil, which is used to create asphalt, highway departments have been heavily hit by increasing prices for the commodity....

[Town of Dryden Highway Superintendent] Bush said he has a list of 10 other roads that could get paved this year but that he will have to wait to see how asphalt prices play out before knowing if they can afford to do the work. Projects that don't get done this year will likely become a priority next year, he said.

Like many other superintendents, Bush said his department is pushing to get work done early in the season before oil prices spike mid-summer and then will try to re-evaluate asphalt prices in August to determine if any more projects can be completed before snow arrives.

In Dryden Town Talk, Cathy Wakeman looks at a key transportation advantage in the Village of Dryden:

One of the luxuries of village life is the ability to hop on a bike and access most of life's necessities. All of my children, including the four-year-old, can navigate their way to the library, post office, grocery store and the four or so blocks to the doctor's office.

Wakeman visits with Dryden Family Medicine, a key part of that collection of bike-able services, which has just added two doctors. Wakeman also notes the rummage sale coming June 2nd and 3rd at the Dryden United Methodist Church.

Also in bicycling, Briefly in Tompkins notes that the Ithaca Tompkins County Transportation Council (ITCTC) is working on a draft map for bicyclists using county and state roads, indicating their suitability for bikes, and will have a meeting about their draft tomorrow night from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Old Jail (map) in downtown Ithaca.

Another Briefly in Tompkins focuses on Dryden, and lists:

  • A Better Housing for Tompkins County workshop "to freely discuss the future of homes within reach and the need for affordable housing in the community." The workshop will be tomorrow, Thursday, May 25th, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm, at the Dryden Town Hall (map). I went to an earlier one and found it excellent - they're not just presenting, but also listening.

  • Cortland County Soil and Water Conservation will have a Pasture Walk May 31st at 10:00am at the Jerry Dell farm in Dryden .

  • Dryden Dairy Day will be June 10th, with a parade on Main Street and booths at Montgomery Park. Registration deadlines for exhibitors are coming up soon!

  • The Dryden Youth Commission has an opening for another member.

  • The Highway Department continues to take scrap metal through May 31st at its garage (map).

A Bethel Grove man received ten years in prison for a drug-dealing conviction, and the Ithaca school board decided not to reduce grades for absences.

Retiring Congressman Sherwood Boehlert is pushing again for higher gas mileage standards. I went looking at new cars to see what kind of mileage I could hope for in a replacement for my 10-year-old Saturn sedan, which was 25 city/35 highway and got 39 miles to the gallon in its early days. No one seems to make small stationwagons any more, and the smallest pickup trucks are still huge. (Between political signs, the house, and the garden, I need cargo capacity.) Nothing in those categories seems capable of 30mpg. I wish Boehlert luck, and really hope automakers get their act together before my Saturn finally decides it's time to retire.

Posted by simon at May 24, 2006 7:35 AM in , , , , , ,
Note on photos