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I-86/NY 17 Update
The effort to upgrade NY 17 to I-86 is well underway. On December 3, 1999, NY 17 was upgraded to I-86 west of the Steuben-Chemung County line. And this year, it is anticipated that NY 17 from I-81 in Binghamton to the Delaware-Sullivan County line will be upgraded to I-86. There are two areas along NY 17 that still require significant upgrades before the I-86 designation is granted: Chemung County (Exits 48-60) and Sullivan County (Exits 94-116). This page will focus on the upgrades in Chemung County.
Lowe Road and Kahler Road (Future Exit 50)
This project is about 90% complete and was scheduled to be opened in November. However, the interchange will not be opened to traffic until next spring as crews were unable to complete paving on Kahler Rd. before the cold weather arrived.
The Lowe Rd. intersection was eliminated and is now a dead end road that will likely be absorbed into the soon to be built Airport Corporate Park.
Horseheads Bypass
A design plan is in place for the Horseheads Bypass, where NY 17 will be elevated over the existing highway, and service roads will be constructed beneath. Preliminary work is scheduled to begin in late 2003. The bypass will be built in three phases, with the first phase scheduled to begin in spring 2004. The project is slated to be completed in late 2006.
Not noted in the diagram on the left are the locations of the three traffic signals on NY 17. They are at Center St., Grand Central Ave., and S. Main St.
Exits 56-59
This portion of NY 17 is probably going to be the most difficult to upgrade due to local residences and the terrain of the area. The Lowman Crossover (Chemung CR 8) intersection was eliminated in 2000 with the construction of Exit 58. Exits 56 and 57 in Elmira were reconfigured into a single Exit 56 in 2001 and 2002. There has been discussion on how to handle NY 17 between Exits 56 and 58. There are five at-grade intersections and several private driveways along the roughly 7 mile stretch. The most logical solution to this problem would be to build two new lanes to the south of the existing highway, making them the eastbound lanes, making the existing eastbound lanes westbound, and tearing up the existing westbound lanes. At the same time, Oneida and Brandt Roads (as well as Chemung CR 60) would be connected with one another, with the new road ending at Jerusalem Hill Road (Chemung CR 1). The current target date for the completion of upgrades in this area is 2010. NY 17 is already at interstate standards from milepost 198 to Exit 71 in Binghamton.