Congratulations. We’ve done it.
At least we hope we have survived the last of this winter’s storms,
As the remnants of those storms recede into the ground, with Daylight Saving Time already under way, and the first day of spring just a week away, it seems pretty safe to believe we can at least put the snow shovels into storage, even if they are right by the shed door.
We have now had two difficult winters in succession, with lots of snow and long stretches of cold temperatures to put pressure on our heating bills. While it was fun to be out on Lake Carnegie on ice skates, we are looking forward to being able to sit on the lake’s banks and take in a crew race in shirt sleeves.
As winter moves off, it leaves behind the constant reminders of its freeze and thaw cycles: potholes. Some of these gaping crevasses look like they are ready to swallow a vehicle whole. Fortunately we have no reports, so far.
But our towns must now deal with repairing their roads. Princeton crews were on Cherry Valley Road this week fixing that thoroughfare where erosion had taken a toll.
On top of an expensive winter that required more salt than most towns had on hand, as The Packet’s article in this issue tells us, these towns have to look ahead at trying to budget without money from the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which will go out of business at the end of the fiscal year without some action from the Legislature and the governor.
As Senate President Steve Sweeney told Packet Media Group editors this week, even an increase in the gasoline tax is on the table in an effort to find a way to provide funds for roads as well as mass transit projects.
While it will be a challenge, finding ways to provide relief for the towns — and their taxpayers — will be paramount for a state that continues to trail most of the rest of the nation in economic growth.
