The Rye City Council did a very good job late last year of resurfacing two of Rye’s residential streets, Oakwood and Elmwood avenues. It had been quite some time since the last effort and the new level of smooth driving was a pleasure, a luxury!
Right on cue, however, along came Con Edison in the spring to dig up five-yard squares around every manhole cover on both streets. They then refilled the holes with gravel and tar that returned us to the bumpy roads of the past. At the junction of Oakwood and Elmwood, however, they forgot the last of the enormous steel plates over that one manhole cover. The road is cambered, and the manhole cover protruded a bit.
The result for neighbors over the last three months has been a house-shaking “BOOM, BOOM” whenever traffic passes over it. The loose, forgotten steel plate left by Con Ed at this well-traveled junction creates a racket that sounds like the police beating down your front door.
Now we learn that Con Ed will return to dig up the areas between each of the manhole covers. Are we never again to have smooth road surfaces on Oakwood and Elmwood?
I appeal to the City Council, once all the excavating and refilling is over, to resurface our roads again.
Before they do, however, I recommend they check with the water company, the telephone companies, and, of course, Con Ed.
— Andrew Heath
