No More Bumps In The Road (Hopefully!)

Resurfacing large sections of Route 9 -- between Schroon to Pottersville begin in July. That's according to Schroon Town Supervisor Mike Marnell, who spoke with Department of Transportation officials this week. Marnell says the resurfacing is long overdue.

"There are sections of Route 9 that are treacherous, both on the main road and the shoulder," Marnell told Schroon Laker. "I've rescued a couple of cyclists who had taken nasty falls on the shoulder. It's not safe."

Marnell knows a thing or two about roads. He was the Highway Supervisor for more than 20years and has been a vocal critic of an experiment the DOT did on Route 9 in the late 1990s.

You may have noticed what appear to be joints in the concrete slabs on the road -- there are referred to as “key ways”. When Marnell was running for office a couple of years back he campaigned on fixing Route 9. Back then he told us:

"When they (the DOT) put in the key ways, they cut the concrete and put re-bar in it and counter board it and then poured new concrete and it isn’t working. Concrete isn’t staying in. They patched it this summer, around June -- they went through with black top and filled ‘em in. I got a 12 shoe and there were spots there I could put my foot in and I ride a motorcycle too, and I don’t like my front wheel dropping in them."

"I reminded the DOT that this was an experiment. It didn't work and they've got to fix it,"