OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Route 5 in the city of Dunkirk, also known as Lake Shore Drive, will get repaved this summer in a state project.

Spring seems a long way off lately on the frigid streets of Dunkirk. However, plans are underway for roadwork across the city once the weather improves.

The most significant project is a repaving of Lake Shore Drive for its entire length in the city by the New York State Department of Transportation. The street carries Route 5, a state-administered road.

The Common Council approved a resolution last week allowing the state DOT to adjust city-owned manhole covers and valve boxes while doing the Route 5 project. Such adjustments will be at the state DOT’s expense.

Randy Woodbury, Dunkirk Department of Public Works Director, confirmed to the council that the paving will be from “city line to city line.” Councilwoman Natalie Luczkowiak had asked him to talk about the project.

He stated, “All the intersections that require better ADA-compliant ramps into the crosswalk areas will be reconstructed with concrete, all up to correct code, and at no expense to the city.”

The state DOT’s “Projects in Your Neighborhood” website doesn’t explicitly state that a paving project is coming to Route 5. Instead, it mentions an upcoming project to “address signal loop replacements” in Dunkirk and three more Western New York municipalities. Construction is slated to begin in the spring, but completion of the work in all four municipalities is not expected until 2027.

Woodbury discussed plans for other streets projects across the city during a subsequent Common Council Finance Committee meeting.

He asked council members to tell him the streets in their wards that need the most work, but there are already two on his radar screen. One is Swan Street between Fifth and Seventh Streets. Woodbury said that is “top of the list to mill and fill,” but DPW has held off because the Dunkirk City School District wants to reconfigure bus dropoff patterns at the intermediate school.

Woodbury is also eyeing the 300 block of Washington Avenue. The traffic signal there is defective, but the only cost-effective way to replace it is to do so as part of a mill-and-fill street project, he said.

Although nothing is planned yet, Woodbury said he would also like to see some repaving on Route 60. Mayor Kate Wdowiasz said she would speak with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to see if funding for Route 60 work can be added to the state budget.