LIMESTONE, N.Y. — As a volunteer firefighter, Jesse Montgomery recalls going to a car accident on U.S. Route 219 to find an elderly driver whose tire had blown out in a pothole.
Limestone’s Montgomery said the potholes along the highway have gotten worse, and he fears more accidents — even fatalities — will occur. He said a particularly bad spot for potholes can be found just north of the Interstate 86 West exit near Sassy’s Truck Stop.
Montgomery, who reached out to the media with his concerns, said he remembers answering a call with the Limestone Volunteer Fire Department and encountered an older woman who had a car accident on Route 219.
“She said, ‘I don’t know (what happened), I hit something and then all of a sudden my tire blew out,” Montgomery said in sharing the conversation. “It crashed into the guardrail … I mean this road is ridiculous.”
Montgomery said that he has checked the New York State Department of Transportation website, which stated there is a plan to do repair work on the road.
“But nobody is doing anything,” he opined. “I understand that Covid-19 is here and all of that but (when the holes are patched) a month later, they’re all back.”
Such calls to the media have been common for several years, with a 2018 report indicating the state planned to begin repaving efforts in 2019.
Montgomery further observed the grassy area near the highway is mowed and taken care of better than the potholes in the road. His real concern is the possibility of fatalities if the holes are struck by motorcycles.
“Somebody on a motorcycle traveling through is going to hit one of those in the middle of the night and they’re going to wreck, and they might die,” he warned. “I don’t want to be on that call when that happens.”
A veteran and truck driver, Montgomery said the road has caused damage to his own personal vehicle and the commercial truck he drives.
“These companies pay a Highway Use Tax, so essentially we’re paying the state to drive on roads like that,” he lamented, adding it is hard on fire trucks. “We can’t even drive our fire truck down the right side of the road by Sassy’s Truck Stop because there is such a dip in the road. With all the water we have in the fire truck, the (truck) scrapes so we have to drive in the center of the road.”
When contacted for information on planned work on the road, Susan Surdej, DOT public information officer, said the agency’s crews are aware of the “condition on 219.
“They have patched extensively the piece between Limestone to the Pennsylvania state line, which was recently done,” Surdej said. “Obviously, they have more patching to do, but the good news is there is an enhanced maintenance project that will be let in February of 2021. That will be out in construction in the spring of 2021 to address the pavement conditions, as well.
“But we are on the patching and there is a project coming next year,” she concluded.
