‘The state must act’
Harriman. Skoufis calls for repaving of ‘long-neglected’ Route 17M.
| 21 Dec 2021 | 11:49
State Sen. James Skoufis stands with Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (left) and officials from the Village of Harriman, including Mayor Lou Medina, Trustee Wayne Mitchell and Deputy Mayor Carol Schneider. Photo provided by the Office of Senator James Skoufis.
Senator James Skoufis (D-Hudson Valley) gathered with local officials in Harriman on Tuesday, Dec. 21, calling for the DOT to repave State Route 17M, an important and long-neglected east-west route for commuters spanning much of Orange County.
“Residents of Harriman, Monroe, Chester, and beyond know the sorry state of Route 17M all too well,” Skoufis said. “I urge the Department of Transportation to advance a full resurfacing in 2022, including the torn-up bridge at the Kings Highway intersection in Chester.
‘A quality of life issue’
“Improving our highly trafficked commuter corridors is a quality of life issue for everybody, and the state must act,” the senator added. “Over the past year in particular, I’ve had productive conversations with the DOT and am encouraged they are looking to re-prioritize Route 17M and finally get this project done sooner rather than later.”
“It is past time for the state to address the need to repave New York 17M,” said Assemblyman Karl Brabenec. “I am glad to work together with anyone and everyone to make sure this critical motorway gets the restoration it desperately needs.”
‘Long-neglect, long overdue’
“Route 17M has become long-neglected and the repaving of this important route is long overdue,” said Village of Harriman Mayor Lou Medina. “Residents, and visitors to this area, have come to know that Route 17M is riddled with potholes and makes for a stressful short-trip or commute. The crumbling infrastructure has become both a safety issue as well as a quality of life issue that the DOT must address.”
26.63 miles
New York State Route 17M (NY 17M) is an east–west state highway in Orange County.
It extends for 26.63 miles from west of the city of Middletown to what is currently the north–south section of NY 17 just southeast of the village of Harriman.
It is a busy main street in Middletown and the village of Monroe; in the former, it divides into a parkway for several blocks and forms the city’s major commercial strip, located between the downtown district and an interchange with Interstate 84 (I-84).
The rest of the road is a two-lane rural route.
Between New Hampton and Goshen, the highway overlaps with U.S. Route 6 . The easternmost section of that overlap near Goshen is routed on the Quickway, making a three-route concurrency with NY 17.
Most of NY 17M follows the course used by NY 17 prior to the construction of the Quickway through the Catskill Mountains. The first section of the Quickway opened in 1951 and extended from Fair Oaks to Goshen. NY 17M was initially assigned in September 1950 to NY 17’s old surface routing between Fair Oaks and Middletown; however, it was extended east to Harriman and, for a brief time, northwest to Wurtsboro as more sections of the freeway were completed.
- Source: NYS DOT