The TIMES of Middle Country
Serving CentereaCh
Volume 11, No. 44
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Selden
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northern lake grove
March 3, 2016
$1.00
631-9414300
’Godspell’ comes to Theatre Three
Also: ‘The Sainted’ book review, Theater Talk, go ape exhibit winners
page B1
Heroin use
Residents discuss heroin and drug use on the Island and steps to combat it.
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Brookhaven highway Superintendent dan losquadro checks out one of the town’s newest tools to help combat potholes.
photo from Losquadro’s office
Town embraces hot boxes to battle potholes By deSirée keegan
With the freeze and thaw cycles of winter weather well underway, Superintendent of Highways Daniel P. Losquadro (R) announced the addition and deployment of four new, four-ton, propane-fired hot boxes to Brookhaven Town’s arsenal of pothole-fighting equipment to keep the roadways safe and passable for the motoring public. “The last two historicallyharsh winters, coupled with the record-breaking extreme
weather pattern we saw just these past few weeks, have been hard on the 3,350 lane miles of road in Brookhaven Town,” Losquadro said. “Although patching the roadways with hot asphalt is only a temporary fix, it is an absolutely necessary step to ensuring safety in areas that may need further attention at a later date.” Hot boxes — trailers equipped to heat asphalt that is used to fill potholes — are crucial to pothole repair. The process involves highway department crews picking up the
material at an asphalt-producing plant and shoveling it out of the hot box manually, before raking or spreading it onto the roadway by hand. The crews will then compact the material level to the existing roadway. “These four new hot boxes will replace older equipment prone to mechanical breakdowns and at the end of their useful life, making it easier for my crews to perform this very labor-intensive and physically-demanding work,” Losquadro said. Losquadro said residents of-
ten ask why the town patches the roadways, rather then repave them. “With the fiscal constraints that local governments must live within, we repave full roads as our budget allows,” he said. “That being said, as potholes form, we must continue to fix them in a timely fashion so as not to expose taxpayers to undue liability.” Motorists can assist the Brookhaven Highway Department in this effort by calling (631) 451-TOWN to report any potholes.