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By Dave McKinley
WGRZ
CITY OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. — The City of Tonawanda has deployed a new weapon in its never ending battle with potholes.
Using $70,000 in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding from New York State, the city purchased a new Stepp SMMT Asphalt recycler which takes millings and re-emulsifies them with an asphalt rejuvenating product to make a hot mix pothole patch.
Like many municipalities Tonawanda has previously relied on cold patch to try and keep up with potholes at this time of year, as the more sturdy hot patch isn't available until the asphalt mills re-open later in the spring.
"The superintendent of public works basically told me that as soon as a car went over this cold patch, it would basically lift the patch right out and the pothole would be back," said Mayor William Strassburg II, who is in his first term as the city's chief executive.
"With this asphalt recycler we can actually take our old millings from roads that we replaced last year, and it heats it up and through a process where we can create 500 pounds of hot patch any time of the year."
According to Strassburg the machine is easily transported on a trailer to allow it to be efficiently deployed.
"Each batch is about 500 pounds of patch...when you run through that 500 pounds of patch then in just 15 minutes, you can have another 500 pounds of patch ready to go," he said.
The newly acquired machine is just now being spotted around the city.
"We just took delivery and it went out yesterday (Monday) so we're still waiting on the results," said Strassburg. "But it'll be out every day, and hopefully the residents will see a difference."
