Wider Rte. 17 a controversial road for many

Expand lanes? Businesses say yes; Mountainkeeper says no

By Manor Ink Staff

Sullivan County, NY – Each year, thousands of visitors travel along New York State Rte. 17, coming from a wide variety of places to the peaceful environs of the Catskill Mountains. The highway is well known and used throughout the region, but for some years, a major effort to widen the roadway has been underway. The project proposes to broaden Rte. 17 from its eastern terminus in Orange County’s Harriman to Liberty in Sullivan County, expanding the road from its current four lanes to six.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has even set aside up to $1 billion to “accelerate the conversion of the Rte. 17 corridor in Orange and Sullivan counties to Interstate 86.”

A group by the name of 17Forward86, a coalition of more than 200 local businesses and trade groups, has been lobbying for several years to build momentum for the widening. However, the project is still being criticized by local and national environmental groups who say the addition of a third lane in both directions will increase the number of vehicles by inducing more drivers to take to the road, and will cause the release of an additional two million tons of greenhouse gasses into the air through 2050.

Mountainkeeper speaks out

Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Sullivan County-based environmental advocacy group, strongly opposes the project and is urging Gov. Hochul rethink the plans.

During a recent radio interview on Liberty’s WJFF, the Mountainkeeper’s environmental justice coordinator, Taylor Jaffe, described the organization’s commitment to protecting the region’s natural resources.

“With $1 billion earmarked for the state’s Rte. 17 Mobility & Access Improvements project, it’s really important that the appropriate work is done to repair and upgrade the road so it meets today’s safety standards,” Taylor said. “But it would be a disservice to our communities to spend the remainder of that funding on unnecessarily widening Rte. 17. Instead of a highway expansion project, Catskill Mountainkeeper and our allies in the Rethink 17 Alliance are advocating for an alternative, sustainable mobility plan for Rte. 17.”

Most legislators support expansion

According to Dan Hust, director of communications in the Sullivan County Manager’s Office, the benefits of the expansion would appear to outweigh the negatives.

“While not all legislators are in favor of or have come to a firm conclusion yet about the proposed widening of Rte. 17 between Bloomingburg and Monticello, a majority do support the idea,” Hust said. “They feel the project is warranted due to the potential increase in business and tourism, better efficiency and improved safety of this vital transportation corridor. Much of that section of Rte. 17/future I-86 already has three lanes in one or both directions, and wherever a third lane does not yet exist, there is room within the current right-of-way to expand.”

Regional business leaders have taken a practical position. “Today, the Dept. of Transportation is offering multiple plan options for public comment,” said Marc Baez, president and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development. “The Partnership maintains that the safety, economic development and ease of travel enhanced by adding third lanes will have an overall positive impact on Sullivan County. We are well positioned to absorb future growth that will inevitably occur.”

The State DOT is working on an environmental review of the proposal, which it plans to publish in 2025. For more information on the Rte. 17 expansion project, visitcatskillmountainkeeper.org/route_17_widening and tinyurl.com/mvhdxspp.

Reporter Mio Moser contributed to this story.