cleanup · Erie County
Union Road Site / Losson Road Tar Pit
Cheektowaga
A former Gardenville railroad-yard disposal area, remembered locally as the Losson Road tar pit. Tar-like waste and abandoned drums are now managed within a capped, slurry-walled containment cell under long-term monitoring.
The documented story
From railroad yard to contained waste site
The story begins at the former Gardenville railroad classification and maintenance yard. An industrial spur ran east from the working tracks into a wetland depression, where railroad wastes were discarded. Local memory preserved the place under a more direct name: the Losson Road tar pit.
Erie County investigators arrived in 1982 and recorded an approximately 80-by-140-foot area of tar-like material and 56 abandoned drums. Expanded work later reported 81 drums and indications of additional buried metal. Those changing counts matter: they show an investigation developing over time, not a complete inventory of every object beneath the property.
The remedy chosen in the 1990s was containment rather than complete excavation. Tar-pit material was stabilized, other affected material was consolidated, and the waste cell was enclosed by a bentonite slurry wall and engineered cap. Because residual waste remains, the site's environmental history now continues through groundwater monitoring, inspections, maintenance, and land-use controls.
A railroad spur ended at a buried waste cell
The Losson Road tar pit remains contained beneath an engineered cap
81 drumsreported during the expanded historical investigation
Railyard era
Rail maintenance wastes moved to the edge of the yard
The disposal area occupied a wetland depression reached by an industrial spur. That setting joined direct waste disposal with shallow soil, groundwater, and ecological pathways outside the yard's main operating tracks.
1982-1986
Investigation documented tar and dozens of abandoned drums
Erie County initially recorded an approximately 80-by-140-foot tar-like waste area and 56 drums; later work reported 81. Buried-metal indications showed why visible surface counts could not describe every subsurface object.
1995-present
The remedy left waste in place under multiple barriers
Tar material was stabilized, other affected material was consolidated, and a bentonite slurry wall and engineered cap formed a containment cell. Monitoring, inspections, maintenance, and institutional controls remain necessary because residual waste was not removed for unrestricted use.
Chronology
Timeline
- Railyard era
Rail classification and maintenance generated wastes disposed along an eastern spur.
- 1982–1986
Investigators documented tar-like waste and dozens of abandoned drums; the recorded count increased from 56 to 81 as investigation continued.
- 1995–1997
Tar-pit material was stabilized and impacted material was consolidated within a slurry-walled containment cell beneath an engineered cap.
- 2024 review
The latest cited periodic review evaluated monitoring and remedy maintenance.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Tar-like material, abandoned drums, and indications of buried metal objects documented direct waste disposal.
- Disposal in a wetland depression created soil, groundwater, and ecological pathways.
- Residual waste remains on site beneath the remedy.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Impacted material was stabilized in place or consolidated within the containment cell. Available public records do not establish that every drum or drum fragment was removed from the property.
- An engineered cap prevents routine contact and limits infiltration.
- Groundwater monitoring, inspections, maintenance, and institutional controls protect the remedy.
Then and now
The site today
The disposal area is capped and managed rather than restored to unrestricted conditions. Long-term reviews are the key evidence for whether containment continues to perform.