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A Jamestown man's concerns about sunken manhole covers didn't go unnoticed.
Councilman Randy Daversa, R-At Large and Public Works Committee chairman, told council members the city has made progress getting some of the worst sunken manhole covers raised back up to be more level with the road surface.
"The manholes were discussed again," Daversa said. "There has been some progress made, some of the manhole covers have been raised up. That's great, but there's definitely some more that need to be done."
In October, Peter Miraglia brought up several concerns to the Jamestown City Council including his wife's sprained ankle after she accidentally stepped into a sunken manhole cover.
"We've been avoiding them all summer, and she just happened to pull up in front of one," he told council members in October. "(She) was unloading the car, forgot about it and fell."
Miraglia previously reported the covers, which he said are well-below the street surface, to the city Department of Public Works. He said the problem has only gotten worse because of street repaving efforts that had created a deeper crater.
Manhole covers are originally set just below the blacktop so snow plows won't catch them and create a larger problem. If a plow catches a manhole cover, it can damage the plow, the cover and the street. Over time, the frame around the manhole cover can become weak and settle into the highway deeper than city officials would like. Those get repaired regularly by the Public Works Department and Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, but there are so many to be repaired that city work crews can never get to all of the sunken manhole covers each year. There are also some manhole covers on state roads that have to be taken care of by state work crews because it's the state's responsibility to maintain state roads.
"We're working in conjunction with the DPW and the BPU to try to get a couple more critical ones accomplished," Daversa said. 'There's one at Eighth and Main (streets) and one at Chandler (Street) and Foote Avenue that we're concerned about getting. There are a few other smaller ones that are a nuisance. So we are headed in the right direction with the manhole covers."