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Make the wise decision

Robert A. Doherty, Chairman & District 1 Legislator, Sullivan County Legislature, Monticello
Posted 6/15/21

To the editor:

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: Sullivan County does not need a third lane along Route 17. For one, capacity-related traffic jams originate in Orange County, …

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Make the wise decision

Posted

To the editor:

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: Sullivan County does not need a third lane along Route 17. For one, capacity-related traffic jams originate in Orange County, even when they spill over into Sullivan.

But a far more relevant argument focuses on the responsibility to spend taxpayer funds where they’re needed. That’s why I’m asking our representatives, including Congressman Delgado, to make a wise decision with this funding.

We’re a tourism- and agriculture-oriented County. We all know this, whether we’ve lived here for a few days or a few decades. We have long hosted visitors and tourism/ag industries without overflowing roads (with a few notable exceptions, like Woodstock). And our roads already possess the capacity to bring in more.

Our rail trail system, however, can’t grow further without significant funding – and it’s worth spending money on. Even in segmented, sometimes hard-to-find parts, those pathways have brought new people and new business to this County, while at the same time providing economic benefits for our existing businesses and health benefits for residents. That’s what we should be investing in, especially considering the need to boost our low health ranking.

Right now, you can walk, run, hike or bike along stretches of the former New York, Ontario & Western (O&W) Railway bed. But you get stopped by the Neversink River in Woodridge, the Fallsburg Tunnel in South Fallsburg, Route 17 and the Mongaup River in Ferndale, and a slew of private properties near Livingston Manor and Roscoe.

We’ve long had a goal to connect all these sections to create an incredible experience that would draw in people from all over the world. In fact, I firmly believe that we could repurpose funding for the Route 17 widening to rebuild the Ferndale Trestle that once carried trains 1,000 feet across and 100 feet above the Mongaup valley. It would be our own “Walkway Over the Hudson.”

Congressman Delgado has been a great friend to Sullivan County, and I remain confident that he and his colleagues can redirect efforts away from a wasteful expansion of 17 and toward a project that will bolster the tourism and agriculture destination that we already are.

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