Massena businessman's road repair saves village DPW 'a lot of money'

MASSENA — Patrick J. Curran took things into his own hands after village officials recently told him they didn't have the money to repair a badly damaged road leading to his wood pellet manufacturing plant in the Industrial Park.

He brought in workers, equipment, some 8,000 tons of gravel and all other materials needed to build a road.

"This has really saved the village of Massena a lot of money. I hate to speculate on what he actually spent on it," said Department of Public Works Superintendent Hassan A. Fayad. "We didn't have the resources to fix it this year. If we had waited untill next spring, the road would have been pulverized to a point where it would have been dangerous for his vehicles to drive on."

Dozens of large trucks bring in wood chips and supplies each day to the Curran Renewable Energy plant that Mr. Curran opened on Commerce Drive earlier this year. Mr. Curran said the road — which hasn't been repaved in more than two decades — couldn't take the wear and tear last spring when the frost was going out.

"The road just wouldn't handle the trucks. And we didn't have a lot of trucks moving at that time," he said. "Next spring, I'm expecting things to be much busier."

He solved the problem with labor and equipment from his other family businesses — Seaway Timber Harvesting and Curran Logging. The crews removed and rebuilt 1,200 feet of the 30-foot-wide road. The village paid for and did the work to blacktop the road. Mr. Curran couldn't estimate how much the project cost him.

"It was substantial," he said. "I don't have the numbers yet, and it doesn't matter. I'm donating it to the village."