ReThink Route 17

Our communities deserve accessible, affordable and reliable transportation choices, not a wider highway. The NYS Department of Transportation is pushing an unnecessary, $1.4 billion highway expansion on our region that will worsen congestion over time, increase air pollution, and burden taxpayers.

Join Catskill Mountainkeeper and the ReThink Route 17 Alliance in calling on our elected officials to stop the Route 17 expansion and instead invest in a vibrant, sustainable future for our communities. The Hudson Valley/Catskills needs to invest in its current infrastructure and work to provide residents with increased transportation choices, including more frequent bus service, safer ...

Our communities deserve accessible, affordable and reliable transportation choices, not a wider highway. The NYS Department of Transportation is pushing an unnecessary, $1.4 billion highway expansion on our region that will worsen congestion over time, increase air pollution, and burden taxpayers.

Join Catskill Mountainkeeper and the ReThink Route 17 Alliance in calling on our elected officials to stop the Route 17 expansion and instead invest in a vibrant, sustainable future for our communities. The Hudson Valley/Catskills needs to invest in its current infrastructure and work to provide residents with increased transportation choices, including more frequent bus service, safer sidewalks, and walking and biking paths. There are better ways to spend $1.4 billion in our region and a wider Route 17 is not the way to go.

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Tell Key Legislators to ReThink Route 17

Take action today and tell our legislators that we don't want a wider Route 17! Our communities deserve better transportation choices that support job creation and economic growth, get people to and from main streets, schools and healthcare, and support environmental protection and climate mitigation. Use this action tool to email key legislators along the Route 17 project area.

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Dear Hudson Valley/Catskills Legislators,

I hope this email finds you and your staff well.

I am concerned that Governor Hochul and the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is still advancing plans in our region that include a possible highway expansion along Route 17 that would worsen health outcomes, air pollution and traffic outcomes over time. We need increased transportation choices in our region, not a wider Route 17, and I am asking for your support to:

1. Stop all plans along Route 17 that increase capacity along the corridor;
2. Require NYSDOT to disclose further information about which funding streams they anticipate using for this $1.4 billion proposal;
3. Request that NYSDOT and/or the Sullivan and Orange County Metropolitan Planning Organizations develop a comprehensive transportation plan for our region that centers our communities’ needs for better local transportation, job creation and economic growth, and aligns with the NYS Climate Act.

Now more than ever, with chaos and unpredictability defining the current federal landscape, our communities are relying on our New York State legislators to act in our best interest. The price tag of this proposed project has grown over the past year to an estimated $1.4 billion dollars (up from $1 billion dollars) and that cost assumes that at least half of this project will be supported by federal funds. Additionally, this project would address only 30 miles of highway in the Hudson Valley/Catskills region, where 60% of roadways are currently in poor condition. With a backlog of needed maintenance and infrastructure upgrades, adding capacity along Route 17 would not only waste funding that could be better spent in the region, but it would also further burden taxpayers and we are already frustrated with the quality of the roads we use to get to school, work, healthcare and shopping centers every day.

Our communities need better, safer roads and more transportation choices, not a wider highway. Thank you in advance for your consideration of my letter, and I hope you will take this opportunity to hold NYSDOT accountable to our communities.

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