Skip to main content

I-88 should reopen by mid-September and other news

NYSDOT officials expect a mid-September completion on the emergency replacement of a culvert that washed out during the floods in late-June. Two truck drivers, David Swingle of Waverly, NY and Patrick L. O'Connell of Lisbon, ME, were killed when the culvert and I-88 collapsed beneath them. Repair crews began work on July 2nd and teams in two shifts have worked 24/7 on the emergency project. The scheduled re-opening of I-88 is tentative based on future weather conditions. [WSTM]

Ironically this past June, a contract for reinforcement and repairs to the soon to be washed out culvert was let. The award was granted only a few weeks befort the flood and collapse of the culvert. The repair project would have begun this summer. [WBNG-TV]

Also, a slight increase in wrecks, about one extra every other day, has occurred in the area (on NY 7 & 8) as a result of the I-88 detour route. Most are minor fender benders. [Oneonta Daily Star]

Comments

Anonymous said…
I was out that way the day after we did our VT run. There appears also to be some damage in spots extending to the WB rest area east of junction 11. The freeway is narrowed down to 2 lanes from that point west to j10-alternating carriageways. I went along the NY 7 detour, which worked well enough on a quiet Sunday morning; and turned with NY 8 so i could catch a bit of that road. My Ex lives in Hancock(ewww), so I took NY 8 to the end and went on over for a free breakfast.
Anonymous said…
So nice to see that they knew the culvert was bad and yet Jennifer Post of NYDOT and Governor George Pataki are saying was an act of god. Act of god my ass they knew it was bad so why didn't they fix it sooner. Then maybe my brother in law Patrick O'Connell and David Swingle would still be alive.

Becky
Anonymous said…
There were a few articles in today's Albany Times Union regarding this issue. Shortened the corresponding URLs for ease of use...

http://tinyurl.com/m7v9e
http://tinyurl.com/mddr8
http://tinyurl.com/nd825
Anonymous said…
Thank you Doug, Kate Gurnett had contacted us for an interview and I was on the look out for these articles. They were written well, but still I have some heartburn with what is being said about "act of god". Maybe Ms Post and Governor Pataki need to sit at home states away for 11 days wondering what has happened to their only sibling is he alive or dead? Will they ever find a body? Then and only then can the say to me it was an act of god.
Anonymous said…
Act of god they say well i say it was an act of god too put two people like Patrick O'Connell and my dear uncle david the two of them where out doing there jobs as they do every day my uncle was so dedicated to hes work that even if there was the chance of him not going he would of went, there are many times that a trucker would get sick and call in well my uncle didnt unless he was dead on his feat. so the only thing that god has to do with anything is that he is now taking care of mine and beckys family that we have lost!

anthony

Popular posts from this blog

The Tale of Tollhouse Road, western California State Route 168 and failed Piute Pass Highway

Western California State Route 168 is entirely located in Fresno County and is linked historically to the Tollhouse Road corridor.   Tollhouse Road is one of the oldest highways in the Sierra Nevada range of Fresno County. The corridor presently begins in at Clovis Avenue in downtown Clovis and extends northeast to Huntington Lake. In 1866 the Woods Brothers established mining claims on Pine Ridge. In 1867 Fresno County would grant the brothers a toll franchise to construct a roadway to the desirable logging areas atop Pine Ridge and near Dinkey Creek. The Woods would establish a tollhouse at the start of their franchise road and lumber mill. The lumber mill attracted settlers which led to the establishment of the mountain town of Tollhouse. Fresno County would purchase the Tollhouse Road in 1878 and make it a public highway. The county would remove the tolls and incorporate the corridor into the existing county road network. Prior to the establishment of Clovis in 1...

Old Dunlap Road (former California State Route 180 in Yokuts Valley)

When California State Route 180 was commissioned in August 1934 the alignment in took in Sierra Nevada range was very different than from today.  The original highway alignment from Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) to east Grant Grove (then part of General Grant National Park) originally followed what is now Ruth Hill Road, Dunlap Road, Pinehurst Road (modern California State Route 245), Dark Canyon Road (partially now Forest Road 14S45).  After funding fell through for the planned Kings Canyon Road the was corridor eventually picked up as a 30-mile-long cooperative project between the Division of Highways and Federal Government.  Much of current alignment of California State Route 180 bypassing Squaw Valley (now Yokuts Valley) and Dunlap was complete by 1941.  The post-1941 alignment of California State Route 180 in Squaw Valley was shifted onto what was once Dunlap Road in Squaw Valley.  This alignment itself was later bypassed by modern California State Route...

California State Route 73

California State Route 73 is 21 mile limited access highway aligned over the Corona del Mar Freeway and San Joaquin Hills Toll Road.  California State Route 73 connects Interstate 5 near San Juan Capistrano westward to Interstate 405 in Costa Mesa.  Prior to the construction of the Corona del Mar Freeway and San Joaquin Hills Tollway California State Route 73 was a surface highway located on largely MacArthur Boulevard. Part 1; the history of California State Route 73 What became California State Route 73 ("CA 73") entered the State Highway System in 1933 as Legislative Route Number 184 ("LRN 184").  LRN 184 was given the following route definition: "LRN 60 near Corona Del Mar to Santa Ana via Main Street" LRN 184 was announced in the April 1933 California Highways & Public Works .   LRN 184 appears for the first time on the  1934 Division of Highways Map .   LRN 184 appears under State Maintenance from US Route 101/LRN 2 in Santa Ana south ...