BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
One major complaint of people all over the north eastern part of the country is the road conditions, especially after a winter like the one we are surviving this year. The snow, the salting of the roads, the plows and the potholes created by them. Senator Bill Weber announced that two major thoroughfares in Rockland County, Routes 303 and 304 are getting make overs.
Weber began by introducing the officials who were present. “I’m pleased to be joined here today with Clarkstown town supervisor George Homan, Clarkstown Councilman Bob Axelrod, Clarkstown Councilman Mike Graziano. County Legislator Will Kennelly and Seema Rock from Congressman Mike Lawler’s office, and we’re going to share some great news for Clarkstown residents and the thousands of drivers who rely on Route 304 every single day. ”
“For years, residents have raised concerns about the conditions on Route 304, the potholes, the uneven pavement, and safety issues along this busy roadway. My office heard those concerns loud and clear. We’ve been advocating since day one of taking office with the New York State DOT to prioritize improvements. ” He said.
Continuing he stated, “You know, I always have said prior to being elected that the amount of taxes we pay that our roads should be paved in gold, but at a minimum they should be paved consistently, and this is a first great start. I want to thank.
Advisor George Hoehmann and the town board, the county legislature for their partnership and their commitment to improving our local infrastructure. I also want to thank the assemblyman Pat Carroll as well.
I know Pat is a big champion on infrastructure improvements and new repaving the same roads, so, I just wanted to give him credit as well. This is not the only project that we’ve been pushing for, as I said earlier.
We’re also going to see progress on Route 303. There’s a $9 million repaving project that’s going to happen on Route 303 sometime this year starting, and it’s going to go from Alfoxy Way to Route 9W as well, again, another high traffic area where we see a lot of safety concerns and potholes on 303. So that’s in the works as well. ”
Weber explained that obviously serves both Clarkstown and Orangetown, but Alfoxy Way all the way up to Route 9W will be paved. There’s always more work to do, and he always talks about the priority list. He also knows there is a lot of other state roads 9W 202, 306, Route 59 that are on their lists too and that we need to get a certain amount of jobs done in a particular year, but they’re going to continue to make sure that those get highly prioritized next.
“Safe roads are essential for our daily lives, our local economy, and the quality of life of Rockland County residents. I’ll continue fighting to ensure that Rockland County receives the attention, investment, and infrastructure improvement that we all deserve. So, with that, I’d like to introduce Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann.
“Thank you Senator Weber, and I want to just echo our gratitude. Looking at Route 304 behind us and when you add all the dollars together, that’s a $27 or $26 million investment in Clarkstown in the state roads. It’s long overdue. I also want to thank Senator Weber. A number of years ago, working with our former assemblyman, Senator Weber was able to help us secure money for a safety study on both Route 304 and Route 303, and that safety study has been ongoing for over a year, and those results will be delivered to the state later this year, and there will be some significant recommendations for some safety improvements to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety all along Route 304 and Route 303. ”
Axelrod spoke first, “Thanks Hi, I want to thank Senator, Weber for all the work that he’s done. He’s constantly proactive. We’re blessed for having him work for us. He’s bringing in funding for us all the time to help us with our quality of life here in Rockland. Thank you so much, and it’s a great example of him for what he does for us with the repaving project over here. Thank you, Senator Weber, for all that you do. ”
“Well, Listen, I just want to say, thank you to Senator Bill Weber and, Congressman Mike Lawler. I mean that they have an open-door policy anytime I call them for something. Bill, he responds quickly. With this project on we really well needed. It was overdue and with his efforts, he really got it done for us and hopefully from, Congers all the way down to West Nyack on 303 that gets done as well. With his leadership, I know we’ll get it done. So, thank you, Bill. I appreciate it. ” Graziano said.
Legislator Will Kennelly was next to speak. “Good morning everyone. Like all these other folks here, I would really like to thank the elected officials for this project, especially Bill Weber and Mike Lawler, who took this ball and landed it. This is going to be a massive undertaking for this town and after it’s all done, it’s going to be absolutely beautiful. It’s something that has been well needed for a long time. It’s something that the people especially of Clarkstown can be very proud of. So, thank you very much. ”
“I have to say when you have a great team, you get the things done. Congressman Lawler and Senator Weber, it’s been a great team. We’re here for the constituents and this is a big project. Thank you so much, Bill, for this and for the businesses that have reached out to us. You do have elected officials that care, and this job is going to be done like you said during nighttime, so this is great. Thank you. Seema Rock said.
Weber took to the podium with some final remarks before taking questions from the press.
The first question came from Diane Caruso of Channel 12 News, “I know spring start date, any like exact date people should be like keeping on their radar? ”
Weber responded, “Yes, we’ll get to that soon. I know George also got a letter from DOT in the mail as well.
I think they’re going to work with obviously the local municipality here, the town, to let them know when they’re going to start so they’ll be able to have the police and others out there as well.
Has the DOT told you like a timeline of just how long maybe it might take? It’s a large section of road here.
Well, on the original notice that they sent to me said that it’s going to be completed in the summer of 2027.
It can take a while. It’s a long road and the work is going to be done at night and the construction on 303 is expected to be completed in the winter of 2026 – 2027. So, there’ll be a lot of projects going on. I think everyone needs to be patient. Things take time, but in order to have better roads, we have to just be patient with these roads. Again, it’s a long time coming first thing I said day one is the roads are not in great shape and it was something that I felt taxpayers deserve to be rewarded. It’s an expectation, but we need to have that reward of better roads, and this is a great first start.
Weber also spoke of the thruway overpass project that road is going to be fixed up too on Route 304. It’s the overpass section of it, and they’re doing work below and on top as well. Trust me, I just drove there with my own car. It’s a disaster. There’s potholes everywhere. That’s a separate project from that. That’s going to be finished this year. I don’t have an exact date.
Hoehmann added, “They keep on pushing the data on that. What we’re being told now, it, it should be done by the summer-ish, is what they’re saying, but I, I take that with a grain of salt.
I asked, “One, I know they’re doing the work at night, but are there going to be lanes blocked off during the day, like, because of the milling? The response by Weber was, “Potentially we’ll get back to you on that once they tell us what their plan on construction is, which I know they’ll coordinate with the town of Clarkstown, we’ll have a better idea of what they’re going to do in terms of safety precautions. ”
Second, are they going to be doing both sides at the same time or they’re going to go down one side and then come back the other? “Again, they’re going to develop a plan once we have the plan, which we will have at the beginning of the project because they’ll have to coordinate with the police department and the local county officials. ”
“Yeah, we’ll, we’ll be having a coordination meeting with the DOT also with the help of the senator’s office, later, later when we get closer to the project. ” Hoehmann explained.