Highway Contact Info
  • Michael Aumick

  • Highway Supervisor
  • Phone Icon (845) 361-1106
  • Fax Icon (845) 361-3801
  • Email Icon Email
  • Address Icon 860 Route 17M
  •       Middletown, NY 10940
  • Hours

  • April - October
  • Monday to Thursday 6:00am to 4:30pm
  •  
  • October - April
  • Monday to Friday 7:00am to 3:30pm
  • Latest Highway Documents

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Call 811- Dig Safely
Jump To:   Catch Basin Cleaning
Obstructed Signs
Roadside Parking
Leaf Collection
Mailbox Policy
We Care Program
Roadside Herbicide Application

 

The Town of Wallkill Highway Department provides residents with road repairs and improvements; winter snow and ice removal; and roadway safety features such as signs, striping and guide-rail for our 166-mile highway network. Additional responsibilities include roadside vegetation control, roadside litter pick-up, drainage repairs and improvements, and bridge maintenance. This work is accomplished with a full time crew of 22 personnel.

Brush Drop Off Program:               

Brush will be accepted on Saturday's only, between the hours of 8AM and Noon beginning on April 8th, 2023.

You can dispose of grass clippings, leaves and brush (no bigger than 3" in diameter) free of charge.  Please note that we will not accepts any branches bigger than 3" in diameter, wood or stumps.  Please use our Keasel Road entrance when you visit us on Saturdays. 

This service is for Town residents only, proof of residency is required.

Catch Basin Cleaning

We clean all drainage basins biannually or more frequently if needed. Is the catch basin in front of your house clogged? If you notice a clogged catch basin or culvert pipe, please call us at 361-1106 so that we can add it to our maintenance list.

Obstructed Signs

If you see a stop sign or an advanced warning sign (these are yellow signs with black legends) that is obstructed, please call us at 361-1106 so we can arrange to have the blockage removed expeditiously. By notifying us of this potentially dangerous situation, you will be helping to keep our community safe.

Roadside Parking

The parking of vehicles is prohibited by law on all highways or any other public property of the Town between the hours of 12:00 am and 6:00 am beginning the first day of October in each year and continuing through the first day of April in the succeeding year, and during all times in which more than two inches of snow accumulates within any such twenty-four hour period. The purpose for this restriction is to allow our snow and ice control personnel to do their jobs safely and efficiently without the hazard and obstruction of roadside vehicles. Violation of this law could result in a parking ticket, or possibly even damage to your vehicle. Please comply with the wintertime No Parking ordinance.

Leaf Collection

The Town of Wallkill Highway Department collects leaves in the densely populated neighborhoods once a year in the Fall. Although weather and other factors beyond our control make it impossible to set a definite schedule, we will pick-up leaves one(1) time in each neighborhood throughout the month of November. WE PICKUP LEAVES ONLY! PLEASE REMOVE BRANCHES AND LIMBS. The leaves can be raked to the edge of the road or placed in bags near the edge of the road. By placing the leaves in bags, you will avoid the frustration of raking leaves just to have the wind blow them around before they are picked up. DO NOT PLACE LEAVES ON THE PAVEMENT OR OVER CATCH BASINS! If you have bagged your leaves, please call us and let us know; the bags can generally be picked up quickly as they do not require the special equipment that loose leaves do.

Please be advised that the Town does not offer brush pickup. You can however contact a contractor for this service, or bring your branches to the Highway Department.


Mailbox Policy

Contrary to popular belief, there is no statutory or legal authority which grants a property owner or resident along a public highway any right to place a mailbox in a highway right of way. The owner may have an informal license, but this does not endow the owner of the mailbox with any legal rights in the highway when it is needed for highway purposes.

The Highway Superintendent and the State of New York have a duty to keep the highway available for public use. Snow removal and snow storage are incident to that use. When the necessity of keeping the highway open for vehicles conflicts with the individual's receipt of mail, the latter must stand aside. The owner might even be compelled to remove the box under Highway Law §319.

The owner has no right to interfere with the speedy and efficient removal of snow by placing the mailbox in such a position as to cause this result, and no liability results on the part of the public official charged with the duty of snow removal if such box is so placed that it may be injured by proper highway maintenance. (Informal opinion, Attorney General 2/28/66)

In order to survive snow removal operations, a mail box must be properly situated, constructed and maintained. Click here for the USPS regulations. Access is also the responsibility of the owner to maintain. Check your mailbox and post annually for proper height and sturdiness. If can wiggle the mailbox or post, it most likely will not survive many more snowstorms. In our opinion, a standard size metal box on a T-type (cross arm) post hold up better than large boxes or plastic boxes,  image click here  (1.69 MB) for a good example of a properly installed mailbox. If yours looks like image this one (1.74 MB) , get it repaired as soon as possible and before cold weather sets in.

We Care Program

The Town of Wallkill is proud to continue their volunteer roadside clean-up program. The "We Care" program is similar to the State's Adopt-A-Highway program in that local business, civic groups and individuals can "adopt" a Town road to keep clean of litter. The Town will provide safety vests, gloves, garbage bags and litter pick-up devices, and will collect the full bags of garbage after each clean-up effort. Clean-ups will be conducted twice each year; once each Spring and Fall. A sign with the "We Care" logo will be installed on each end of the adopted road and a separate sign will be placed below the "We Care" logo giving recognition to the volunteer group performing the clean up. If you or your organization is interested in participating in the Town of Wallkill's new "We Care" program, contact the Highway Department at 361-1106.

Roadside Herbicide Application

The Town occasionally applies herbicide to roadside vegetation annually in some of the rural areas only as needed. Guiderail installations also receive one annual application. All applicators possess DEC certification. This program achieved several benefits, such as:

  • Reducing repetitive machine mowing, saving money
  • Eliminating habitat for ticks that cause Lyme's Disease
  • Reducing brush and weeds that impede sight distance, helps eliminate contact with deer
  • Open up ditch areas to minimize mosquito habitat
  • Encourages ground cover plants to thrive such as day lilies and myrtle

The work is done usually in late Spring or early Summer.

If a resident has a concern with the program and would not want the right-of-way treated in front of their residence, please contact the Highway Department. We will evaluate your request and advise you of our decision.

A little patience and a cooperative spirt are essential ingredients for getting through the winter plowing season.  When we as citizens, plow contractors and Town crews work together we can reduce frustration that sometimes accompany winter snow storms.  There are many things residents can do to minimize plow related problems for themselves and to assure the Town crews so the most effective job possible.  Please pdf click here (76 KB) for a list of helpful hints that may make it easier to survive the winter plowing season!

The Town of Wallkill is pleased to announce our brush drop off program. 

Brush will  be accepted on Saturday's only between the hours of 8:00 AM and Noon
From 04/08/23 through 12/02/23

 You can dispose of grass clippings, leaves and brush (no bigger than 3" in diameter) free of charge.  

Please note that we will not accept any branches bigger than 3" in diameter, wood or stumps.

 Please use our Keasel Road entrance when you visit us on Saturdays. 

This service is for Town residents only, proof of residency is required.