Mill Hill Road project should end soon
Work to correct drainage on Mill Hill Road/state Route 212 is expected to be completed before the end of September, if state crews can get a break from the rain.
At a Town Board meeting Tuesday, town Supervisor Bill McKenna said the new storm drains have been installed.
“They anticipate that, by the end of next week, they’ll be repaving,” he said. “Of course, this is all weather-dependent. They have a week of concrete work left to do and then it’s a week of paving.”
Work since shortly after the July 4th holiday has been done in eight-hour shifts at night, with the street often reduced to one lane as work progressed in 100-foot increments from just west of the Woodstock Playhouse to Rock City Road.
Officials wanted the state Department of Transportation to do the work at night so business traffic in the commercial district would not be impeded. They had also asked that it be done this year to avoid interfering with an anticipated tourist boost next summer during the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, which is associated by name with the town, even though it was held in Bethel, about 60 miles away.
“People are anxious, there’s been occasional disgruntled people calling up, but everybody’s been really good about it,” McKenna said. “They understand we have to get it done. Some days, they call to vent a little bit.”
The project has included replacing the grate system that runs along the side of road. It was installed more than 30 years ago and fails during periods of heavy rain when sheets of water cascade down Mill Hill Road.
“Back in ‘77 they came up with this brainstorm (for drainage) that was going to be revolutionary and it was a disaster,” McKenna said.
“They’re going to a standard drainage system,” he said. “It’s time-proven. When it’s all paved, it’s not even a thought that it won’t work.”
The $3 million project is being funded by the state Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, part of the New York Rising program under funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Disaster Recovery Program.