HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The ReThink Route 17 alliance has released a report identifying regional transit projects that could benefit from redirecting the $1.4 billion in funding earmarked for an expansion of Route 17. 

New York State plans to invest $1.4 billion to upgrade Route 17 from Exit 113, Wurtsboro, to Exit 131, Monroe. These upgrades are part of a decades-long project to turn Route 17 into Interstate 86, a project that has already come to fruition through much of western New York. 

While industry and business groups have argued that the highway needs to be expanded for the economic benefits it will bring, the environmental and community groups that make up the Route 17 alliance maintain that the $1.4 billion could be better spent on projects that improve other aspects of transportation in the region. 

The alliance’s new report, titled “Invest in Our Communities, Not a Wider Highway,” lays out a representative selection of projects that could be funded instead of the proposed Route 17 widening, totaling $400 million worth of infrastructure investment. 

These include:

• $5 million to double the number of bus routes in Sullivan County. 
• $140 million to complete the O&W Rail Trail, including a 50-mile section in Sullivan County from Wurtsboro to Livingston Manor. 
• $100 million to fix and pave the existing roadway of Route 17 and roads in the surrounding areas. 
• $5 million to develop a regional transportation management program. 

Taylor Jaffee, project manager with Catskill Mountainkeeper (an environmental advocacy organization that’s spearheading the ReThink Route 17 alliance), said that towns and villages in New York State don’t have enough funding as is—then the state turns around and spends $1.4 billion on a highway. 

The region could provide a whole host of benefits to its communities if it doesn’t sink $1.4 billion into this “boondongle,” said Jaffee. 

Development pros and cons

The Route 17 project as proposed by New York State includes several project options. Key among them is the inclusion of a third lane, expanding the highway from Wurtsboro to Monroe. 

Research has shown that adding lanes to existing highways tends to increase the amount of traffic they see. 

Explains Kent Hymel in the study “If you built it, they will come,” “There is little dispute among transportation researchers that expanding highway capacity increases vehicle use. This phenomenon is known as induced demand… Wider highways increase traffic speeds and reduce the time cost of driving, thereby inducing additional vehicle travel.”

Both supporters of and advocates against the Route 17 expansion say it will support additional economic development along its path. They don’t agree on whether that’s a good thing. 

Jessica Landsdale represents the Lake Communities Alliance, a nonprofit devoted to sustainable development along the lakes created as reservoirs for the D&H Canal. The region includes Exits 109 to 112 on Route 17, and the watersheds of the Neversink on one side and the Bashakill on the other. 

“We feel like this is a very sensitive area environmentally,” Landsdale told the River Reporter. The group formed out of the homeowners’ associations on each of the different lakes, with the first fight coming against a two-million-square-foot distribution center proposed in Rock Hill. 

The proposed upgrades to Route 17 make it “much more attractive to developers,” said Landsdale. She said that Sullivan County is a relatively inexpensive place to build, and that with the big push in recent years for building distribution centers, the wider region has been targeted for development. 

Development on Route 17 could bring could bring harm to the sensitive environment to the area, risking pollution to the waters of the Neversink and the Bashakill and worsening air quality in the area from the increased traffic, she said. 

“The real issue is widening it means more traffic,” she said. “It’s been studied over and over that widening highways by adding an additional lane does not reduce traffic, because more people think they can travel on it.”

While community groups point out the environmental risks of that additional development, industry groups have highlighted the economic benefits. 

A coalition called 17Forward86 released a traffic analysis of the Route 17 corridor, stating that their analysis shows the importance of the third lane. 

The study analyzed current and projected traffic conditions, incorporating anticipated development, and found that the expansion was needed for the region’s quality of life, economic resilience and long-term connectivity. 

“The data clearly shows that the addition of a third travel lane in each direction is not just beneficial—it’s necessary to accommodate projected traffic volumes and ensure the long-term mobility of this vital corridor,” said Richard G. D’Andrea, an engineer who prepared the study. 

Marc Baez, head of Sullivan County’s Partnership for Economic Development, told the Sullivan County Legislature that the partnership was “100 percent behind” the expansion, and said it would prefer the third lane to go up to Exit 103. 

According to Jaffee, an original plan that would have extended the third lane up into Sullivan County got scaled back after pushback from environmental groups. 

“I travel that road every day—every day, twice a day, for probably a good length of that corridor. It needs a third lane,” said Baez. 

Baez said there’s significant development taking place along the Route 17 corridor, underscoring the need for the expansion. Right now, in Orange County, there’s “built, existing or about to be built” seven million square feet of industrial space, he said. Sullivan County has 3.3 million, “which is a pretty darn good number for Sullivan County.”

In addition, there will be a significant amount of housing developed around the corridor, with Baez saying roughly over 10,000 in housing units are being prepared for development within the next few years. 

“That’s why we need the third lane—to address issues that are taking place today. Not that we’re inducing traffic to come in, not that we’re inviting traffic to come in, to deal with issues that we need today,” said Baez.