Widening of Route 17 called long-term goal

The need to widen Route 17 is not immediate, said Sullivan County Partnership President Marc Baez.

Efforts have been under way for years to secure funds necessary to widen Route 17, the future I-86, from two lanes in each direction to three.

The need for the additional capacity is not immediate, said Marc Baez, president of the Sullivan County Partnership.

Despite concerns that when the casino opened in Kiamesha Lake it would add to the traffic on the east-west highway, it has not materialized. Baez said that, in their heyday, the Catskills had dozens of hotels and the infrastructure back then was able to accommodate the traffic

“There is (a) transportation need and, yes, there are some issues particularly on Friday nights and Sunday nights coming to and from New York City,” Baez said, “but at the same time, it is not so much so that it is going to turn into a large parking lot and we are not going to be able to function to do the things that we have to do.

“It is just something that we know we have to address at this point for the future needs and future growth activities that we are all working on and expecting to take place over the next decade or two,” he added.

The Orange County Partnership, Orange County Citizens Foundation and Sullivan County Partnership are all continuing to look at all of the issues involving an expansion and how to secure the funding to implement it in the future.