DEAR EDITOR:
By writing this letter, I hope to inform the townships of Vienna and Fowler that the King Graves Road entrance to and from Route 11 onto Route 82 is in dire need of lighting. A few years ago I called ODOT about the lack of lighting and spoke with someone who informed me that even though they were working in the area at the time they were not concerned with putting any lighting at this unlit intersection since it was not their responsibility. Now recently, a man who was respected for his work as a firefighter lost his life there and although I admit I do not know all of the details of the accident, I believe if the lighting had been adequate, a fatal accident may have been avoided.
Years ago, the person I talked with about this explained to me that the lighting had to be provided by Vienna and Fowler since one side of the road, the entrance going toward Warren and the exit onto King Graves Road, is on Vienna property, while the other side of the exit onto King Graves Road and entrance toward Cortland is on Fowler property.
I then called a Vienna trustee and told him the dilemma and gave him the information I had just received along with names and phone numbers of the people I had talked with. I explained how dangerous it was and asked him to just drive there at night so he could see for himself, then bring it up at one of the township meetings.
That was probably four years ago and it is still dark there and I believed and still do, this has been an accident just waiting to happen, simply because of a lack of proper lighting. The state does have a light for the work trucks and trailers that are parked beside the exit to King Graves, that is probably meant to deter theft, but it does not give light to the road and is actually rather distracting.
If you travel Route 82 from Route 11 through to Route 193 there are 20-plus lights that actually make it as bright as daylight but no one has addressed the problem at this dark intersection on King Graves Road. I sincerely hope that this terrible, unfortunate loss of life will bring about a safer lighting set up for the intersection of Route 11 and King Graves Road so that it won't happen again to anyone who might be traveling the route. There is much truck traffic there and it will only increase now that the area has been targeted for the drilling companies.
Please, bring this to the attention of someone who can correct a dangerous problem. I believe it would make a newsworthy article, don't you?
Marianne Nethers
Vienna