WURTSBORO –– Highway Superintendent Rob Hufcut has complained about speeders and trucks on the wrong roads in every highway superintendent’s report for the past couple months, and he did the same at the Tuesday, August 3 Mamakating Town Board Meeting.

“People have no respect. Absolutely zero,” Hufcut said when he described speeders ignoring flaggers directing traffic in road work zones. In addition, he decried truckers that use town roads such as Roosa Gap, Shawanga Lodge Road and Walker Valley Road.

Hufcut said these roads have a ten-ton weight limit for a reason, and these local roads cannot handle the weight. He also stated that he has new signs to put up and will be talking with other local highway superintendents to try to deter truckers from using local roads.

These truck drivers are “ruining our roads for a short cut,” he said.

During public comment, a longtime resident, Daphne Hodgson, addressed the board about speeders on another road in Mamakating - Route 56 off Wurtsboro Mountain Road.

She stated that there are no speed signs anywhere on Route 56, and drivers speed on that road at an unbelievable rate. She asked the board what could be done about it.

Town Supervisor Janet Lybolt stated that since the road is a county road, Mamakating does not have the jurisdiction to put anything on the road. Lybolt advised that Hodgson should call Ed McAndrew, the Commissioner from Sullivan County’s Public Works Office.

At the end of the town board meeting, Hufcut told Hodgson that he had an upcoming meeting with McAndrew, and that he would pass along her information. He also said that Tom Donnelly, the Road Maintenance Superintendent under McAndrew, might be able to help as well.

In their conversation after the meeting, Hodgson explained that she lived on Callahans Road, and many residents on the road have dogs, and many walk their dogs together. They used to walk on Route 56 to walk around Pine Lake. Now because of speeding cars and trucks some residents are afraid to walk, especially after the death of Tamika Zambrano in Bloomingburg in May of this year.

Zambrano was struck by a drunk driver while she was walking right outside Mamakating’s Town Park.
Hodgson stated that she understood that Sullivan Structures’ trucks use the road as well as many others who want to get to Mountaindale. Hufcut agreed and stated that it is a county road; therefore, trucks do have a right to use the road, unlike other roads in Mamakating.

In addition, she stated that she understood any road that does not have a sign is automatically 55 mph. However, people treat the road as a “national speedway,” Hodgson said. Residents are often illegally passed by other drivers on the road, and passers and other drivers are easily driving at 70 mph or higher, she continued.
Hodgson asserted her belief that speed limit signs might deter people from speeding if they see that the road does have a speed limit. On this point, Hufcut disagreed. He said that he put out ten 40 mph signs on Roosa Gap road, and it did not make a difference as drivers ignored them. He also mentioned that people steal them, and they have been mostly a waste of taxpayer money.

Hufcut said it is very difficult to get people to take speeding seriously.

“People have become complacent,” and have accepted that people speed, he continued.
He said that unless someone physically fights for a lower speed limit on a road, nothing changes. He continued by saying that he is on Route 56 often, and he “wouldn’t walk on 56 if [his] life depended on it” because of the speeders.

Hufcut reiterated that the speeding problem is in Mamakating in general, and “Callahans [and Route 56] are no different than any other road.”

Hufcut, however, did want to try to address the problem as best he could. He stated that he would ask the Sheriff’s Office to put out a patrol car on Route 56 to hopefully deter speeders.

He said having a patrol car in the area worked on speeders on Roosa Gap for a while. Hufcut also stated that Councilman John Lacey’s grandson is a police officer, and he does patrol the area often as well.

Hodgson thanked him and said she was happy that she spoke up during public comment to achieve some kind of result against the problem of speeders.