NORWICH – A meeting of the New York State Route 12 Corridor Task Force, formed in 2000, attracted a large crowd to the Eaton Center Tuesday morning.
About 25 members of the state and county transportation departments along the 84-mile stretch from U.S. Route 11 in Broome County to NYS Thruway I-90 in Utica came to hear a consultant’s study about upgrading the roadway. Enhancements could include limited access portions with passing lanes, a truck bypass of Norwich, an interconnecter to Interstate 81, incorporating Routes 320, 23 and 8, as well as a stand alone four-lane highway.
New York State Department of Transportation officials say the latter would cost in excess of $750 million and take more than 30 years to build. It is estimated that a Route 12 Interstate would save travelers 30 minutes to get from Binghamton to Utica. It currently takes about 1 hour and 49 minutes.
Task Force members representing Chenango, Broome, Madison, Herkimer and Oneida counties debated whether building an interstate would be cost prohibitive, and eliminated from the study on that basis alone. NYSDOT’s Anjan Sen said, “We should drop it. It would not help in economic growth because it would cost too much to do.” Task Force member J.C. Waszkiewicz disagreed. “It would save 30 minutes in travel time to the casino (Turning Stone). The Adirondacks draws tourism from snowmobiling. I’d hate to just discard it on the basis of no economic benefit. I would like us to keep is as a potential long-term goal. Make limited access improvements to it now.”
Other task force members suggested that an interstate would make the Greater Binghamton Airport more accessible and a connector from Route 12 to I-81. would allow for more Finger Lakes wine country tourism.
NYSDOT Project Developer John J. Fitzgerald, who led the agenda Tuesday, said the project could be “tweaked” to “call it a four-lane limited access roadway for most any place we can incorporate a four-lane and then maybe use the Super 2s.”
Super 2 construction would provide an additional lane for slower traffic such as farm vehicles, snow plows, tractor trailers and buses, particularly on hilly areas like north of the Sherburne-Earlville High School. They would restrict driveway access, however, meaning shared entrances or new frontage roads. Super 2s are estimated to cost $2 million per mile.
NYSDOT Regional Director Jack Williams said what is attained in mobility via the Super 2s “is sometimes a trade off in safety.”
“The corridor is crying out for mobility and reliability, but safety is paramount,” he said.
Consultants Barton & Loguidice PC of Syracuse said they were waiting for an economic benefits analysis of the direct dollar amount associated with suggested corridor changes.
One of the most prominent sources identified in the study for causing traffic delay is within the City of Norwich. The study identifies a truck route using the county Route 32B bridge to county Route 32 and returning to state Route 12 in North Norwich.
“We don’t want to take away from traffic downtown for economic reasons, but there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic in Norwich and local drivers don’t necessarily want to fight with tractor trailers,” presenting Consultant Luke M. Morenus said. “Truckers say they would rather have a bypass.”
DOT officials said re-routing trucks from a state highway to a county route may require additional engineering analysis and would cost $15 to $20 million for the state to purchase the right of way from Chenango County. Chenango County Department of Public Works Director Randy Gibbon said the northern portion of CR32 from Woods Corners to Route 12 in North Norwich is scheduled to be widened within 12 years.
The study also recommended interconnecting traffic signal timing in downtown Norwich.
Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter informed the task force that rail service along the New York Susquehanna & Western railroad could soon be discontinued from Chenango Forks to Sangerfield. Town of Norwich Supervisor David C. Law said the change would mean “a lot more trucks.”
“We need better roads now,” Law said. “We have mobile homes, lumber trucks, Wal-Mart trucks and Colgate traffic.”
Carpenter agreed that the road needs upgrades and more signage now. “I don’t see a four-lane highway through Sherburne, Norwich or any of the small towns in Chenango County,” she said.
An article in The Evening Sun on July 12, based on archived new stories, reported that the federal government had committed $8 million to the project. NYSDOT Project Developer John J. Fitzgerald said yesterday that Congress had earmarked $31.6 million. The NYSDOT has committed almost $17 million toward phase 1 recommendations planned between now and 2013. It has already addressed many improvements in Broome and Chenango counties. A $10 million Route 12 reconstruction in the Town and Village of Greene has been delayed until 2010 because of increased project costs.
NYSDOT Regional Director Jack Williams said, “Will it (an interstate) be important to the overall state’s economy? If it is public money used for this, what will we get? Once we get the figures, we would need to compare a $200,000 million limited access highway to a $700,000 million overall interstate in terms of their respective economic benefits.”
“This is a statewide significant investment, not just a Region 9 or Region 2 issue anymore. Are we committed to spending that much? It is above any of us here at this table whether we could commit that amount of dollars to that goal,” he said.
The task force plans to hold public information meetings in early September and again in October in hopes of completing the second phase of the study by November. The second phase was begun in 2003.
A member of U.S. Rep. Michael A. Arcuri’s (D-Utica) office attended the meeting. Arcuri said recently that enhancing travel between Utica, Norwich and Binghamton “is a critical part of continuing development in upstate New York.”