Catskill Mountainkeeper and our allies, representing tens of thousands of New Yorkers, are calling on Gov. Hochul to end her administration’s plan to add additional lanes along 50 miles of New York Route 17. 

This billion-dollar project is intended to relieve traffic congestion along Route 17—a highway connecting New York’s mid-Hudson region with the greater Catskills area—but in reality, the plan is sorely misguided and would be an enormous waste of taxpayer funding. 

The notion that wider highways make for smoother traffic is a fallacy that has been repeatedly rebuked by researchers over the last 40 years.

In fact, highway expansion on Route 17 stands to worsen traffic by tacitly encouraging single-occupancy car use, and would bring with it a slew of negative impacts on our communities, forests, wetlands and water sources. 

Making room for more asphalt means paving over carbon-sequestering forest and wetlands. Emissions from the resulting uptick in traffic would generate as much as two million tons of greenhouse gas pollution by 2050, threatening the health of our families and exacerbating the climate crisis. 

Moving forward with this project would run directly counter to guidelines set by New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which calls for enormous cuts in carbon emissions by 2050. The CLCPA also mandates that state decision-leaders prioritize environmental justice and climate resilience when considering new projects.

Widening Route 17 would instead expose highway-adjacent communities to dangerous levels of carbon monoxide and particulate matter, while reducing access to green space. 

The $1 billion in funding for this project could be far better spent on projects that would improve our quality of life and meet the transportation needs of New Yorkers without adding to traffic and risking the health and safety of our communities. 

Improving the range and efficiency of mass transit systems, creating more walkable and bikeable communities, expanding access to electric vehicles, and facilitating ride-share services are just a few of the ways our state leadership can make a lasting positive impact on our state.

We’re urging the governor and her administration to take these serious concerns to heart, and look forward to jointly discussing more positive alternatives to improve transportation along Route 17. This work is ongoing, and we’ll keep in touch with any updates as the situation develops. 

Ramsay Adams is the executive director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. Learn more and read the letter to Hochul at www.catskillmountainkeeper.org/.