Storm King Highway - History

History

Since the early days of settlement, the Highlands had long been a major obstacle to travel between Cornwall and the communities to its south. In 1913 state highway commissioner Gordon Reel began to think seriously about building a new road to connect them after heavy lobbying by local business and community groups. The idea he ultimately decided on, a road along the side of Storm King Mountain, was estimated to cost $400,000 ($8.71 million in 2008 dollars), far more than his department had funds available for, so the legislature had to make a special appropriation.

After three years, during which surveyors sometimes had to rappel down the mountain's cliffs to mark the route, construction began in 1916. The original idea to build a tunnel was changed to a road cut into the side as lighting it would have been too expensive and it would have missed the most scenic aspects of the road. Accordingly, the specifications for the project were changed. The planned road was widened from 16 to 18 feet (4.9 to 5.5 m), with a three-foot (1 m) concrete gutter.

The difficulties of building one of New York's first public roads designed for automotive use were compounded by having to make sure that debris did not hamper the operations of the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Line, which ran along the river's edge below. Dislodged boulders sometimes blocked the tracks or landed on cars, damaging them and their contents. The first contractor hired for the job soon went bankrupt; they were replaced by the John L. Hayes Company of Yonkers. Hayes, too, found the going tough, especially when U.S. entry into World War I dried up the labor supply. The PIPC soon stepped in and renegotiated the contract to account for the difficulties caused to Hayes by the unforeseen circumstance of war. It also blunted opposition to the road by developing the state park around it.

When it was opened in 1922 it shortened the distance required to travel by automobile from Newburgh to West Point, which are 10 miles (16 km) apart as the crow flies, by 22 miles (34 km). In 1940 this distance was further cut by the four-lane U.S. Route 9W, which travels west of Storm King. It remains a well-used commuter route for employees of the United States Military Academy who live in Cornwall. They must use alternate routes when the gates are closed, as they were for over a year following 1999 forest fires on Storm King and its vicinity.

In summer of 2011 New York's Department of Transportation (DOT) closed the highway to vehicular traffic for four hours on Sundays to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to enjoy it freely. Up to 600 people took advantage of the closures on some of those days. Citing that success, DOT announced in September that it was extending the closures through November.