Route 17 upgrade underway

By FRITZ MAYER

PARKSVILLE, NY — The row of earthmovers sat idle over the holiday weekend, but evidence of their work was visible, as the forest has been stripped from great swaths of land in preparation of upgrading NY State Route 17 into Interstate Route 86.

Before the road can become part of the interstate system it must be free of all traffic signals and driveways, which are still part of the landscape of Route 17 as it traverses Parksville. That will be changed when a three-mile section of the highway is moved from its current location to a short distance away, up the mountain.

Businesses on the road have long counted on the traffic to supply them with new customers. Now, at least one prominent business, Memories, an antiques and furniture store, is closing its doors because it anticipates that the new bypass will mean far fewer customers.

In the meantime, traffic patterns on the existing highway have changed a bit because the usual four lanes through the hamlet have been reduced to two. The reduction led to a four-mile backup at the traffic light on Labor Day.