BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

CANTON -- The Canton town board has approved the list of road construction projects for the remaining construction season.

The board gave the go-ahead on six construction projects at its meeting Thursday, Aug. 13.

Town Councilman Bob Washo, a member of the town's highway committee listed the jobs. The work will include:

• A small paving project in the village of Rensselaer Falls, which will generate income for the town, said Town Councilman Bob Washo;

• 600 feet of Old State Road;

• 1,500 feet of Judson Street Road, through what Washo called the "worst" section of the road, through the Ames intersection;

• 1,000 feet of the Kelly Road, which has experienced drainage damage;

• 3,000 feet of the Potter Road; and

• Continued work on Old State Road, including digging up portions of the old concrete road, and prepping it for more paving later on.

"We've spoken with Terry (Billings, highway superintendent) about the order of operation here and he is going to start with the Kelly Road and the paving project in Rensselear Falls and then most likely move to Judson and Potter from there. Probably not getting to Old State until after Labor Day, in which case we will know more about our ultimate (state) CHIPs reimbursement," Washo said.

The town has already received $147,000 of its state CHIPs reimbursement for road work on town roads, said Washo. Another $75,000 in CHIPs is still expected to come from the state, along with about $95,000 in emergency weather and PAVENY funds that the town could receive to help reimburse the municipality for road construction work. Washo said the town is still waiting on a letter from the state to confirm the funding at which point the town will send in the paperwork to receive reimbursement.

Washo estimated the town would receive the reimbursements in September.

"We will monitor closely the expenditures of these projects as (Billings) does them," said Town Councilman Jim Smith, Highway Committee member. "If any of them should happen to run over for any reason, Terry (Billings) is aware of it and we will put the brakes on him if we have to, if for some reason either CHIPS or the other two, REPAVENY or emergency weather money, (doesn't arrive) from the state."

Washo added that the state has promised the town $170,000 "above and beyond" what the municipality has received already in CHIPs funding. He said the total cost of all of the projects approved by the board is $205,000. If all of the state money arrives, the town will pay $35,000 in local money for the work, Washo said.

In other highway news, the board has also learned that a request by the town to the state Department of Transportation to widen a 14-mile portion of State Route 68 and install safety measures has been denied.

The state is set to resurface the road this year, but cited cost as the reason they would not include the requested improvements asked for by the town. Those improvements, developed by the Canton's Complete Streets Task Force, would have included wider shoulders to allow bicycle and pedestrian travel along the route, bumper ridges down the center of the road and pedestrian crossings at intersections.