To the Editor:

Throughout the Hilltowns of Knox, Berne, East Berne, and West Berne, road work has been done to establish significant drain areas along the sides of our roads. Many roads have had quite wide and deep ditches dug out along them.

It seems likely this is due to some significant rain events in the last several years and this will save on road damage and cost of repairs from water damage. However, what about the expense to vehicles and personal injury when someone goes off the road into these craters?

It is imperative that these at least be filled with gravel or rock to alleviate the damage they can cause when vehicles end up in them. My husband stopped one day when he saw a vehicle in one of them and noticeably saw the young lady driver’s leg broken. She was in extreme pain and her vehicle was pretty banged up.

I would also like to single out Bradt Hollow Road. This road has these very large gullies and then, along with paving road work that has been done, Bradt Hollow Road has been extremely narrowed. It is particularly scary when going up or down the steep and winding portion between Bridge Road and Lawton Hollow Road, especially when the road is covered with snow.

This road has the wide, deep ditches on one side and a steep hill on the other side that a vehicle can fall down if it slips off the road — which should have a guard rail for it. It would be particularly difficult to fit both a snowplow and a vehicle going in the opposite direction.

And, between a snowplow and a vehicle, I’d place my bets on the snowplow winning the road and the vehicle ending up sliding into the ditch or down the hill. It would be particularly awful if it is were a school bus with children on it.

Please look into this situation throughout the Hilltowns before someone is seriously injured or killed.

Mare Donohue

Berne

Editor’s note: The author lives on Bradt Hollow Road.

Berne Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger said that there are no set guidelines for the size of a ditch dug on the side of the road. The ditches must match the level a culvert is dug at, he said, so if a culvert is three feet deep a ditch must be as well. It also depends on the location. On Route 443, off of Turner Road, there is a five-foot-deep culvert and in turn a five-foot-deep ditch, he said.

“If you’re going into a five-foot-deep ditch, it’s very dangerous,” he said.

Bashwinger said flooding has been a factor in the depth of the ditches, and that last year 12 miles of the area around Bradt Hollow Road was flooded, and that five different towns dug ditches after this occurred and that stone was put in the ditches as well.

He said that that section of Bradt Hollow Road has not narrowed; it was originally supposed to be 16 feet wide and ended up being 21 feet wide.

“They are 100-percent correct on the guardrail,” he said.

Bashwinger said that he has wanted to install around 1,000 feet of guardrail on three different roads, including Bradt Hollow Road. He said that would involve working with the Albany County Department of Public Works, which has a guardrail machine, but the county has been involved in large projects and has been unable to do this with Berne. Bashwinger said he also has quotes from a company that would install guard rails for around $100,000.

He asks that those concerned about the town roads contact him — over the phone, through his Facebook page, or by stopping by the highway garage. He may be reached at (518) 573-3002.

“If they have an issue, they can call me,” he said.