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Moving forward with State Route 17 expansion

Patricio Robayo - Staff Writer
Posted 2/27/20

WALLKILL — Elected officials, business owners, and concerned residents filled a ballroom at the West Hills Country Club in Middletown, New York.

The coalition, 17-Forward-86, put together a …

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Moving forward with State Route 17 expansion

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WALLKILL — Elected officials, business owners, and concerned residents filled a ballroom at the West Hills Country Club in Middletown, New York.

The coalition, 17-Forward-86, put together a panel to further the task of expanding State Route 17 into a three-lane highway.

The coalition formed in 2018 is promoting and exploring the expansion of State Route 17 from Woodbury Commons in Orange County to Liberty in Sullivan County and has over 200 members.

With this expansion, the coalition hopes to alleviate the current traffic congestion the region sees yearly and to spur on more economic growth.

Legoland in Orange County will open its doors this summer and, along with Kartrite Resort and Indoor Water Park and the Resorts World Catskills Casino, the area will see an increase in automobile traffic.

Those on the panel were, Scott Batulis, President and CEO of the Greater Hudson Valley Health System in Middletown, David Kohlasch, General Manager of the Kartrite Resort and Indoor Water Park in Monticello, Randy Resnick, Owner of Bernie's Holiday Restaurant, Crust Italian Eatery, Trading Post, Resnick Energy, and Penguin Energy, Rez-Bear Propane, and Liberty Market, in Sullivan County, Maureen Halahan, President and CEO of the Orange County Partnership, Marc Baez, President and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership For Economic Development and Orange County Chief Deputy Dennis Bar.

Michael Lawler, Partner at Checkmate Strategies, and Director of 17-Forward-86 moderated the panel.

According to the Cornell Program of Applied Demographics, Sullivan County's population is projected to grow to more than 79,000 in 2020 and Orange County to more than 400,000 people, which will increase traffic along State Route 17.

Furthermore, according to 17-Forward-86, “extending Route 17 to Interstate 86 is critical to the long-term economic well-being of the region and will lay the foundation for the enhanced local and long-distance travel, as well as enhances business recruitment and retention.”

The coalition is requesting that the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) advance the construction of the third lane on Route 17 and create Interstate-86.

According to 17-Forward-86, $500 million has been allocated for the project and to move forward with a Planning and Environment Linkage (PEL) study.

Eighty percent of the funds will come from the Federal Government, and 20 percent will come from New York State, Lawler said.

The NYSDOT chose the firm in October 2019, to conduct a $5 million study that will include seeking priority locations and directing environmental assessments and preliminary engineering.

Funding for the PEL study was part of the 2018-19 state budget, according to Lawler.

Funds for the study are currently tied up in the procurement process, Lawler said.

“We have been pushing very hard to get them to finalize the procurement and release the funds,” he added.

According to Lawler, he believes that by April of 2020, the study could begin and will take 12 to 18 months to complete.

In the meantime, Lawler said the coalition is working with the governor's office and state legislature to ensure that there are capital funds in the Capital Program for the project.

“We are experiencing a tremendous amount of tourism activity,” said Baez, who said Sullivan County is seeing single-digit unemployment numbers.

“We've got to make sure that we're open for business in the years to come, and by adding a third lane, it [will] certainly help us do that,” added Baez.

Resnick said that for this year, both counties would see an “epic” traffic season.

“With the opening of Legoland, and all the things that are going on, we need to prepare,” said Resnick.

According to the General Manager of the Kartrite Resort and Indoor Water Park in Monticello, during their opening year, they saw 200,000 visitors to their resort.

“This year, that probably should double,” said Kohlasch.

Moreover, Kohlasch said the guests to the waterpark complain about the traffic getting to the resort.

“We cannot afford to lose business,” added Kohlasch.

Resorts World Catskills Casino, Kartrite Resort and Indoor Water Park, and Yo1 Wellness Resort and Spa Catskills all made the Town of Thompson their home.

Thompson Town Supervisor, Bill Reiber Jr., wanted to know why the “largest lobbying group,” from Kiryas Joel and Williamsburg [Brooklyn] were not present at the meeting.

“We need to engage them, they should be in this room,” said Reiber.

Lawler responded by saying, “We are working on that.”

For more information, visit www.17forward86.org.

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