The town of Granby threw a party Saturday to thank State Senator Darrel Aubertine for the money he secured to fix three of the town’s crumbling bridges.
Aubertine (D-Cape Vincent) got the town a grant of $190,000 to fix the bridges on Honey Hill Rd., Lakeshore Rd. and Ritchie Rd.
He attended a reception in his honor at Granby Town Hall Saturday afternoon, complete with cupcakes and coffee. When the event was over, people stood in a line to shake the Senator’s hand and say hello.
“Granby was in desperate need of help,” Town Supervisor Ed Williamson said to the audience of about 25 local political leaders and town residents. He said he sent pictures and a request for help to Aubertine on August 10 and a week later, Aubertine shocked him with the news that he’d secured a grant to get the work done. It usually takes much longer for grant applications to be approved.
Helping people is “the reason I got involved in politics to begin with,” Aubertine told the group.
Williamson took Aubertine to the Honey Hill Rd. worksite to show him what the state’s money had bought. The small bridge over a creek is closed, but work on the new bridge is well along. Two huge steel pipes and a set of large concrete barriers are in place. The work, when complete, will widen the bridge deck to 25 feet, an increase of about 6 feet.
There will also be a new guardrail.
Williamson said that the narrow bridge was the scene of several accidents, in which drivers ran off the road and into the creek. “We’re lucky we didn’t get sued,” he said.
The work on Honey Hill Rd. will be done by winter, Williamson said. The two other bridges will be repaired next year.
Williamson said that the town and its taxpayers could never have afforded the $190,000 project on their own, and the state had already turned down the repair projects for stimulus funds. He praised Aubertine as “one of the finest Senators we’ve had in a long time.
“We were just blessed,” he said.
A gallery of photos from the event:
Granby town Supervisor Ed Williamson makes a point at the reception to thank State Senator Darrel Aubertine for grant money for a bridge repair project.
A crowd turns out for the celebration of the grant funds, as Aubertine and Williamson, at far right, discuss the project.
State Senator Darrel Aubertine spends a moment with Granby resident Rose Anthony.
Granby Town Supervisor Ed Williamson, County Legislator Morris Sorbello of Granby and State Senator Darrel Aubertine stand on Honey Hill Rd, to see the bridge repair work being done with the $190,000 grant Aubertine secured.
Senator Aubertine’s spokesman, Drew Mangione, takes a publicity photo of County Legislator Morris Sorbello of Granby, State Senator Darrel Aubertine and Granby Town Supervisor Ed Williamson on Honey Hill Rd. as the men inspect bridge repairs underway there.
One of the two huge new pipes installed below Honey Hill Rd.
The political leaders talk stop the new culvert being built along Honey Hill Rd.
Bridge work being done on Honey Hill Rd. will be done by winter, according to the town supervisor. Two other bridges in bad shape will be repaired next year.
