Edison Road on route to recovery

Ogdensburg — Still closed from the aftermath of the winter flooding, Edison Road’s future is still uncertain. With repairs already under way, though, Ogdensburg officials say they are working as diligently and quickly as possible to reopen the road, a path that additionally leads to Heater’s Pond. A committee of three council members — Steve Ciasullo, Wayne Ingerto and Jamie Wolstenholm — plus road department head Ken Smith, has been formed to address all issues regarding damage done to Edison Road and Heater’s Pond. Repairs to date have been handled by the borough’s Department of Public Works (DPW). “Our DPW is doing as much work as possible to save the town money,” said Ingerto in a phone interview. Current repairs According to Ingerto, guardrails at the side of the road banks have been repaired, and potholes in an area from the railroad tracks to a residence near the water tower have been patched up. Additionally, a section of a pipe that runs from the back side of Heater’s pond to the front has been removed from under the road near the Sparta section in order to get the water flowing. “Beavers had been damming it, but now the water flows freely,” said Ingerto. “We intend on replacing that pipe, probably with a concrete one.” Costs and future repairs After the state’s DPW reviewed the scope of the damage, the borough was asked to lower the pond level before going forward with additional repairs to the road. To comply, Ogdensburg has begun dredging it. It then had its engineer look at the dam. “He feels that there was not a tremendous amount of damage done,” said Ingerto. “He’ll give us guidance on what repairs we need to do. As soon as they tell us, we’ll get started. Our goal is to try and get it done as quickly as possible so town people can use the pond again.” With the borough’s DPW doing as much work as possible, the only extra costs to the town so far have been for materials. “It’ll be more money with mason work on the dam and repaving sections of the road,” said Ingerto, adding that some work is beyond the scope of the borough’s DPW. With no set timeframe for when Edison Road will reopen, Ingerto said the DPW as well as committee members are working on it every chance they can. He noted, though, that the DPW still has other responsibilities, including maintenance of the ball fields, replacing water meters and other repairs from the storm.