TROY'S LANDFILL UNDERGOES ITS FINAL BURIAL.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: TIM O'BRIEN Staff writer

Where once methane gas bubbled up through thick puddles of ooze, trucks are now smoothing 18-inch thick layers of fill and protective fabric to forever close the city's landfill.

Four years after the city signed a legal agreement with New York state to close the 60-acre landfill on Colleen Road, the city is close to fulfilling its commitment.

It's not that the leveling of garbage and dumping of fill took four years. Despite signing the agreement in 1993, the city did not begin work on the closing until May 19. Previous administrations had sought to reopen the landfill, sought to use it for construction debris, or …