Future
The remainder of NY 17 west of I-87 will be designated as I-86 after the remaining at-grade sections are eliminated and the highway is brought up to Interstate Highway standards. The conversion was originally expected to be complete by 2009, and later by 2012; however, a lack of funding for the necessary upgrades has pushed the target date as far back as 2018. Temporary signs mark the route as "Future I-86" where it is not already designated as I-86. Cost estimates for the I-86 renovation ranged from $550 million to $900 million in the early 2000s. Two projects to improve sub-standard sections of NY 17 are currently in development or under construction. The first covers the 5.5 miles (8.9 km) of NY 17 between the current east end of I-86 and exit 58 in Lowman. As part of the project, three discontinuous sections of County Route 60 (CR 60)—Brant Road, Oneida Road, and Old NY 17—will be linked together and several at-grade intersections on NY 17 will be eliminated. Two of the three at-grade junctions—the east junction with Brant Road and the west junction with Oneida Road—were permanently closed on March 24, 2010, to allow construction to begin on the new alignment of CR 60 between the two locations. The $84.7 million project is expected to be completed in mid-2012.
The second of the two involves improvements to the interchange with I-81 in Binghamton near the stretch named "Kamikaze Curve". Work on the Prospect Mountain project, as it is known by NYSDOT, is projected to begin in mid-2011 and last until early 2013. The projected total cost of the project is $193.2 million. Other projects that need to be completed to extend I-86 eastward include the removal of at-grade intersections from exit 58 to exit 59 in Chemung, the elimination of at-grade intersections in the Catskills between exits 84 and 87, and other interchange improvements in the Catskills. One junction in the Catskills, an at-grade intersection in Parksville signed as exit 98, was replaced by a $96 million, 3-mile (4.8 km) bypass of the hamlet in late 2011. The eastbound lanes of the new highway opened to traffic in September; the westbound section was finished in November.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 86 (east)
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“If nations always moved from one set of furnished rooms to another—and always into a better set—things might be easier, but the trouble is that there is no one to prepare the new rooms. The future is worse than the ocean—there is nothing there. It will be what men and circumstances make it.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“The normal present connects the past and the future through limitation. Contiguity results, crystallization by means of solidification. There also exists, however, a spiritual present that identifies past and future through dissolution, and this mixture is the element, the atmosphere of the poet.”
—Novalis [Friedrich Von Hardenberg] (1772–1801)
“In no nation are the institutions of progress more advanced. In no nation are the fruits of accomplishment more secure. In no nation is the government more worthy of respect. No country is more loved by its people. I have an abiding faith in their capacity, integrity and high purpose. I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)