Traffic on Route 17 will be worse with casinos

Study paid for by anti-casino group

By FRITZ MAYER

ORANGE COUNTY, NY — A new report predicts that a single casino in Sullivan County would cause additional 1.5-mile backups at the traffic exchanges at Harriman from the New York State Thruway to Route 17. Orange County traffic would be above capacity on much of Route 17, meaning that slight incidents, such as a driver breaking too hard, would result in frequent and persistent stand-still conditions.

This study was prepared by Sam Schwartz Engineering, a New York City-based firm that specializes in traffic analysis. The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC), a group that opposes the construction of any casinos in Sullivan County, paid for the study.

The authors of the report studied the plans put forward by the St. Regis Mohawk and the Stockbridge Munsee tribes. According to Erich Arcement, who helped prepare the new report, “Even one casino would exacerbate already congested conditions. With three or five casinos on Friday and Sunday evenings, traffic would come to a standstill on Route 17 on a regular basis.

The report drew immediate fire from casino advocates. Joel H. Sachs, a lawyer working to bring a casino to Monticello Raceway, said in a statement, “While Orange County has created massive traffic issues for themselves with record big box development along the Route 17 corridor, I find it ironic that the NRDC is now looking up the road at one single proposed casino in Sullivan County. This project has completed environmental reviews far more extensive than any past or pending projects in Orange County.”

Thompson supervisor Tony Cellini said the NRDC has an anti-casino agenda. In a statement, he said, “It’s time to stand up to these “wine and cheese” NRDC obstructionists.

The St. Regis Mohawk tribe is still actively trying to create a full-service Las Vegas-style casino at the Monticello Raceway, but there is currently no movement in Albany that would allow a casino to be built in the near future.

In Washington, legislation is being prepared that would prohibit tribes from opening casinos away from their reservations, although the future of the bill is unclear.