Town Road Repairs Underway, More Repairs to Come in Summer

Road repairs after this past winter’s multiple snowfalls and blistering cold conditions are currently underway, according to Town of Smithtown Superintendent of Highways Glenn Jorgensen. The superintendent said work has begun on the main highways and roads with the heaviest traffic and now workers are moving on to back roads.

“[We] hit the main drags first, the heavy traffic streets we get, what gets the most traffic we get,” Jorgensen said. “If I get a call on say Rosedale Avenue, I go down the street and fix everything, now if you call that there is one bad pothole we may end up fixing five on that street – we’ll get the all for one and see another four and fix them while we’re there. Most of the calls I get are when the potholes are bad and then we fix the minor ones while we’re on that street also.”

Lee Jackson, tow truck operator for AAA through Smithwest Service Center in Saint James, said he’s answered more calls for dead batteries than flat tires as of late, and has not encountered many potholes that could potentially badly damage your vehicle.

“I really didn’t come across that much. There are minor rough areas of road, like Townline [Road] has a lot of rough spots to it but no really big craters in the ground,” he said.

The town started the repairs early this year according to Jorgensen, and began using a “cold patch” or cold asphalt to make repairs, but have recently switched to a “hot patch.”

“We’re using hot asphalt now, we’re picking that up at the asphalt plant. Wherever they make asphalt we go pick it up with a hotbox – it’s like a patch-box that keeps the asphalt hot,” he said. “Last week nobody was making asphalt now we were using what we call a cold patch and that’s a different product and it’s a temporary fix.”

Jorgen said the weather has been so detrimental to some roadways that the hot patches may not be enough to keep the roads in good shape and summer road repairs will be necessary.

While you will see workers with hotboxes repairing roads on a daily basis, you may also see the Superintendent of Highways repairing potholes as well. Jorgensen is very experienced in these types of repairs as he performed them as a town employee before taking this position.

“I’m hands on, I’m out there with the guys … I’ve done it my whole life, it’s in my blood, I cannot just sit in the office and point the finger,” he said.

Jorgensen said if you see a roadway with potholes that could potentially cause major damage to vehicles to call the Highway Department at 631-360-7500, and that after the calls are logged in repairs should be done within 24 to 48 hours.