Highway Department

It is the objective of the Town of Wheatland to maintain and improve its more than 42 lane miles of Town roads for safe, convenient, and enjoyable travel by motor vehicles as well as for recreational use by horse, bicycle, or pedestrians. The Highway Department works diligently to provide residents and all other users of Town roads with high quality, economically efficient road maintenance, and improvement. There are three major categories of highway maintenance and improvement activities for Town roads:

• Routine Maintenance that may include processes such as patching and sealing cracks to help to maintain reliability of road surfaces before they become problems.

• Preventative Maintenance such as surface treating provides a new wearing surface and limits infiltration of water that degrades the road’s structure.

• Capital Improvement involves the rehabilitation of the entire road, such as recycling the road surface and/or application of new asphalt.

The town highway department also removes dead animals from town and county roads, cleans debris and silt from rear yard drainage systems, provides signage for town roads, mows road right-of-ways, and periodically sweeps the roads’ surface clean.

Snow & Ice Control

During the winter season, Town of Wheatland plow and salt trucks provide snow and ice control for over 150 lane miles of roads within the Town limits with the goal of maintaining roads in the Town in a passable driving condition for the motoring public in a safe, cost effective manner with motorist safety, budget constraints and Highway Department employee safety in mind.

While the Town of Wheatland Highway Department works tirelessly to control snowy and icy road conditions, note that it is not the policy of the Town Highway Department to provide continually bare roads. It is also not possible to maintain a bare road surface during or immediately following a snow or ice event. Sections of roadways improved for winter travel may continue to have residual snow and ice in a compacted condition upon them until warmer temperatures or de-icing materials are applied to allow for complete melt-off after a storm. These conditions may be continuous or they may be localized in certain areas of the road depending on temperature, wind velocity, direction and other factors.

Limited or no sanding is done during periods of snowfall and during blowing and drifting conditions because falling or blowing and drifting snow covers the material and it is scraped off on subsequent plowing passes. Plowing typically ends when the storm ends and roads have been made passable for travel. Drift plowing and pushing back accumulated snow along the roadside will continue after the storm as necessary During periods of icy conditions our salt trucks carefully applies the appropriate amount of salt so as to limit the environmental exposure yet still ensure the roads are safe.

Town Cleanup Services

Throughout the year, the Town of Wheatland Highway Department provides various cleanup services for Town residents, including both drop-off and curbside collection services.

Trash Cleanup

Each year on the last Saturday of April and the first Saturday of May, Town Residents located outside of the Village of Scottsville may bring trash to the Town Highway Building location at 1822 Scottsville-Mumford Road to dump in hoppers provided. Dumpsters will be manned for assistance. Proof of residency will be required (a New York State driver’s license is acceptable). Recycling of electronics will also be available free of charge. Note that tires, fuel oil, gasoline drums, refrigerators, freezers or paint containers will NOT be accepted.

Brush Pickup

Starting on the first Monday of May, the Town Highway Department provides a brush removal service for Town of Wheatland Residents who live outside of the Village of Scottsville. Brush is picked up by the Town curbside at each resident’s home. Brush must be neatly piled with the butt ends in same direction. This service is provided for residential brush removal only. In addition, the brush pickup service does not cover fence row material, such as trees or large stumps.

Christmas Tree Recycling

During the Winter season after the holidays, Town of Wheatland and Village of Scottsville residents may recycle Christmas trees by taking them to the Town Highway Building located at 1822 Scottsville-Mumford Road (note that Village of Scottsville residents will have curbside pick-up of trees if desired, through the month of January).

Leaf Collection

During the Fall season, the Town Highway Department picks up leaves curbside for residents outside of the Village of Scottsville. Please rake or place leaves at the curb for collection, do not block roads, ditches or any storm-water areas. Do not place leaves in bags.  Make sure the leaf piles are free of any debris such as rocks, bottles, cans, limbs, sticks, any metal or solid substances so it does not damage our vacuum truck or equipment or hurt the crew. Leaves will not be  picked up until leaves are separated from other debris.

Property Care and Maintenance

The Highway Department maintains the Town’s public parks space, including landscaping tree and brush trimming, mowing the grassy lawn areas, ensuring playground equipment and other facilities are safe for use. The Department also provides general services in support of other Town Government needs, such as moving furniture and equipment. Check out more detailed information about Wheatland public parks use and facilities reservations.