TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Train track troubles continue with the potholes along the railroad tracks on Kenmore Avenue.
"It's not even really a pothole, it's jagged broken pavement off of the track," said Daniel Seely, owner of Buffalo Wholesale Tire at the corner of Sheridan and Kenmore.
Seely has seen damage first hand, on his way to work where he then fixes that damage, or at least tries to.
"A repair like that really isn't possible on a tire, you create what we call an impact break, it damages the tire on the inside and literally splits it apart, the tire's essentially garbage, anybody who hits that is kind of in trouble," said Seely.
He's owned the shop for 10 years now, so Seely knows the road well, but those who don't, end up in his shop. He tells 7 Problem Solvers at least once a month someone will come in saying they got stranded because of potholes on Kenmore Avenue.
Between the rim and tire replacement, people are spending $200-300 on repairs. It's a good spot for Seely to get business.
"That's not the business I want though, we sell a lot of used tires, a big part of that business is from roads like that. You see a lot of construction everywhere, but it seems like the most damaged roads don't get taken care of sometimes," said Seely.
7 Problem Solvers has been trying for the past week to get you answers. In our last update, we went from the county to the state looking for solutions.
The stat re-dirceted us to reach out to the railroad companies. We sent an email to CSX railroads which let me know they are not responsible for fixing these issues.
"Based on the information provided it appears that this crossing belongs to General Motors, as it is located on the lead track to their facility and would be their responsibility. Please contact them regarding any scheduled maintenance," said a CSX spokesperson.
So then we went to GM and sent emails back and forth with a spokesperson.
"The siding will be reviewed and any corrective actions required for the Tonawanda rail crossing will be addressed," said a GM spokesperson.
We followed up, asking for a timeline, but it's not clear when this review will happen.
"If the team confirms it’s on us to repair the potholes, they will be repaired right away...We obviously take road safety very seriously, so if it’s ours to fix, we’ll definitely fix it fast," said a GM spokesperson.
