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As I was driving on Hwy. 108 the other day I noticed workers paving Erskine Road. That got me thinking. What are the criteria that town or county personnel use to determine which streets might require maintenance? From my perspective, I would think that the amount of traffic should have some impact on the decision-making process. The more traffic on a street would mean it gets deteriorated faster and require more maintenance. Other criteria might be the current condition of the street and how long since it may have been maintained.

 

Why would Erskine get paved, which was in very good condition, and gets very little traffic, while other streets which were in much worse condition and heavily used be neglected? Is it the real estate values in the area, or perhaps some influential resident lives in the area? Surely it was not randomly picked from a hat. I would like to know how that decision was made and what was the reasoning.

 

There are quite a few other streets that also deserve attention. But none more so, in my opinion, than Chestnut Street. Chestnut Street seems to have not received any attention in 30-40 years. The condition of the street is deplorable and very dangerous. Besides the numerous potholes which are like an obstacle course for drivers, there is a water gulley on each side of the street. These are deep gullies caused by rain runoff that are deep enough to get a vehicle stuck in them. 

 

The rainwater crosses over the street twice going from gulley to gulley causing more erosion and driving hazards. All the culverts are completely blocked. At one point the erosion was so bad that one of the street signs had sunk halfway into the ground. There is only one rainwater drain for the whole street and it’s at the entrance to Woodland Park. The street has been neglected for so long and is in such disrepair that simple paving is not an option; the whole street needs to be re-engineered to provide adequate drainage.

 

Chestnut is used by all south-going traffic that originates in the Melrose area. That includes the parishioners attending the numerous churches and residents of the Melrose area. Visitors to the library, post office and TFAC use Chestnut to go south on 176. And the main entrance to Woodland Park traffic is on Chestnut. That’s a lot of traffic! 

 

In addition, there are pedestrians on the street who like to walk to the bakery, IGA, ABC, Dollar General, and Nana’s restaurant. Tryon does like to promote the fact that it’s a very ‘walkable’ town. The condition of the street makes walking very dangerous with the gullies and the traffic trying to avoid the potholes.

 

Do we wait until the street completely caves in before it gets attention? Residents that use Chestnut, and agree it has been neglected for too long, should voice their opinion to City Hall.

 

Al AlbertoTryon