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Community Corner

A Rocky Road Isn't Always So Sweet

They sketch a serene scene into the landscape, but dirt roads remain a deeply divisive debate, with locals either loving them or feeling left in the dust.

The unpaved thoroughfare is a fact of Northern Westchester life.  Between Bedford, Lewisboro and North Salem, our community claims a collective 55 miles of unpaved byways—33 in Bedford alone—and holds the dubious distinction of having the highest mileage of dirt roads per square mile anywhere in the immediate New York metropolitan area.

For urbanites seeking a slower scene, it’s easy to romanticize their rustic whimsy.  It’s among the countless charms in the bracelet of beauty that clasps around our region and has wooed weekenders northward from the city for centuries.  After all, the engineering of the dirt road has changed little in half a millennia, with the mere minimal improvement of modern power grading equipment emblazoned with the crest of the highway department for a town that’s young in comparison.

It’s different for those dwelling on those dusty drives through the country—both literally and figuratively.  To dirt road residents and the buckled-budget municipalities maintaining them, they’ve also proven their worth as a never-ending nuisance, posing serious safety risks and causing car problems, general grime and the ceaseless attention of a grading gang, all of which combined could surely have paid for their paving ten times over.

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They’ve been argued as any combination of pricey, impractical, antiquated, dangerous, and flat out filthy, yet mere whispers of their prophesized pavement incite hullaballoo from both sides of the aisle.  Contrary to popular belief, countless dirt road homeowners are very much pro-paving, though many still flinch at the prospect.  Others curse the need for constant car washes, but despite perpetual grievances would miss the necessity if the end of their driveways met asphalt.  And last but not least, there are of course those who plainly and simply love them, are entranced at their existence and idea of sharing their lanes with oncoming equestrians.

Needless to say, the sometimes-sore subject leaves locals in, well, a bit of a rut.

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“It’s very strange, most people love them that don’t live on them,” said Martin Varley, a realtor at Houlihan Lawrence in Katonah.  “They love the quaintness and idea of horses riding up and down, and it’s not until they move in that they say, ‘Oh the dust, the dirt, the tire problems!’”

A 40-year Bedford resident, Varley, who resides on Guard Hill, has taken many a house hunter down our area’s unpaved streets.

“Of course, no realtor is going to say, ‘wait until you see this in the winter.’  Most people don’t ask specifically for listings on dirt roads, but once they see them, they tend to think they’re not too bad, and most are in pretty nice areas.”

After all, they’re a consummate complement to our country landscape.  Bedford’s master plan even stipulates that the stewards of the municipality maintain a certain percentage of dirt roads remain unpaved to preserve the character and natural beauty of the town.  Plus, there’s the added argument of inherent speed control.

But despite it being a strong selling point, to the neighbors who see drivers blazing breakneck speeds down even the rockiest roads daily, the supposed self-policing feature seems more myth than reality.  In Lewisboro, Schoolhouse and Chapel Roads have proved particularly problematic, and despite poor visibility have remained raceways for shortcut-seekers.

“People fly down these roads all the time, even with all the rocks,” said Schoolhouse homeowner Gino Lucadamo.  “It’s dangerous to those on the road, and kicks up the dust that not only wreaks havoc on passing cars, but cakes on the front of your house.”

Lucadamo remarked the speed limit on his street was lowered from 30 to 25 MPH in recent years, but claimed he’d never seen a single police patrol on his street enforcing it.  A radar speed trailer left on the West end of the road last summer also sported an incorrect sign claiming a 30 MPH limit.

On June 3rd, a speeding SUV rolled on Schoolhouse, a common cut through from Cross River to points east, as it skidded to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

Witness Jaxie Friedman dialed 911 and tended to the victims while waiting the arrival of first responders.

“I’m clearly no expert but I definitely think the condition of the road was a contributing factor.  The story I heard from the driver was that a large truck came at them really fast from the other direction.  You could see a large amount of dirt and rock misplaced and a pretty decent sized indentation from where the tires must have swerved to the side.”

While Friedman expressed an admiration for dirt roads, she admitted it’s often easy to lose control, and felt the combination of divots and unlevel ground from the steep inclines alongside the road played a role in the recent crash.

Others shared similar sentiments about driving conditions on unpaved roads.

“The very large potholes that are impossible to eliminate tend to make residents drive as if they were on a slalom course that increases the risk of a head-on collision,” echoed Bruce Fischman, also of Waccabuc.  “People who regularly walk their dogs or jog take their lives in their hands because drivers are always either swerving or sliding.”

Safety concerns aren’t the only bump in the dirt road’s reputation.  Some say they’ve also done their part stimulating the local auto repair industry, with their rap sheet racking up multiple counts of car problems from flat tires to more severe damage.

“I’ve had numerous flats because of this road,” commented Michelle Colman of Chapel Road.  “Most recently, every warning light went off on my car and I went directly to my garage.  My rear brake was hanging down.”

Even the costliest car repairs trail sharply in contrast to the price of maintaining the roads themselves, which average approximately $30-$40,000 more in annual upkeep than per paved routes.  Bedford briefly flirted with for properties on unpaved streets to cover the added costs, but ditched the idea after deciding it was unreasonable to impose upon homeowners.

The town highway department rosters a convoy of under-scrapers and other specialized equipment assigned to groom the roads regularly, dumping a compactable concoction of stone and dirt classified by New York State as Item 4 into the right-of-way and adding calcium chloride to combat frost.

“We have trucks assigned to certain sections,” said Kevin Winn, Commissioner of Public Works for the Town of Bedford.  “Generally in the summer the roads hold themselves together, so we go out based on what the police and residents report.  Spring is definitely the busiest time, when the frost comes out of the road and becomes deep mud as it thaws because the water frozen below has no place to go.”

He explained that while paving sounds attractive and promises long run cost savings, the upfront investment is prohibitive.

“If you said, let’s pave the road, it would take 10-15 years to pay for itself, so for those first 10-15 years it’s going to be more expensive than leaving it a dirt road.”

Nevertheless, it’s happening.  In Lewisboro, the remainder of now-partially paved Chapel Road is slated for blacktop this summer.  And nostalgia aside, with an eternity left to foot the bill, many residents remain convinced that paving is still the best bet.

“The arguments to not pave are disingenuous at best and self-serving at the worst,” Fischman remarked.  “Nobody is advocating turning Route 35 back into a dirt road to slow drivers.“

It’s hard to release those reluctant remnants of an ever-ebbing era slowly washing away, reminding us of times when horse buggies ruled their lanes, indoor plumbing was nonexistent and John Jay was the celebrity everyone wanted to see shopping in town.  But John Jay is now a school, we don’t miss outhouses, 1-horsepower hay burners are recreational vehicles and the roads our predecessors traversed with them are today the gateways to multi-bathroom abodes with garage-babied Bimmers, whose 300-horsepower V6s are not happy being coated in a film of dust. 

Yet however ironic it is, the stigma these streets seem to radiate seems too firmly engrained in local life to allow an easy answer in addressing their more problematic aspects.

“If the already hazardous conditions don't deter drivers then at least let's make it safe,” appealed Fischman.  “That way everyone is a winner.”

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