Potsdam village gives support to Route 11 improvements

POTSDAM - If one transportation project is good, two is better.

Village Trustees unanimously expressed their support Monday night for the improvement of Route 11, months after they expressed similar support for the development of Interstate 98.

“From my point of view it’s not an opposition to the four-lane,” Mayor Steven W. Yurgartis said. “It’s just kind of saying we need something to start happening soon.”

Route 11 supporters got a big boost last month when the state’s Department of Transportation announced that $6.3 million in federal money earmarked in 2005 for design and environmental studies would be used to improve the corridor.

Supporters of I-98 had long assumed that money would instead be used to plan the route for an interstate from Watertown to Plattsburgh.

On Monday, Trustees voted on the resolution initiated by the Route 11 activist group, YESeleven.org. The group turned in a similar resolution to county legislators but no discussion was held and no action taken.

While the group has adamantly opposed the creation of I-98, no mention of the interstate was made in the resolution.

What it did say was that improvements to the two-lane highway would be an effective way to improve transportation through the region while creating jobs and development opportunities.

With the passing the resolution, the village has taken a stance on improvements to Route 11, urging lawmakers on nearly every level of government to make the plan a priority and expedite the process.

The resolution also urges the DOT to allow meaningful opportunities for local officials and citizens to be involved throughout the process.

But even though they passed the proposal, that doesn’t mean the village has given up on the idea of a rooftop highway, the board said. If that highway were to be developed, however, it wouldn’t be any time soon, they reasoned.

“Studies have shown that Route 11 can improve in a timely way, for a decent amount of money and we can get a big bang for our buck in terms of improving transportation,” Mr. Yurgartis said.

Although she voted in favor of the resolution, Trustee Eleanor F. Hopke made it clear that Route 11 wouldn’t be her first choice for a transportation project.

Varying speed limits,the road’s path through a number of villages and the lack of a passing lane make travel up and down the corridor difficult, Ms. Hopke said.

“It’s too hard to get in and out,” she said.

The only way to alleviate that problem would be to create a 65 mph, four-lane highway that bypasses the villages, according to the Trustee.

“But I don’t see that happening,” Ms. Hopke said, citing the region’s lack of political influence in places like Albany and Washington.

Mr. Yurgartis said he believed many of the region’s transportation problems could be handed with a relatively small investment into the Route 11 corridor.

“There are a number of studies done that show Route 11, with probably some minor improvements, could handle traffic more efficiently,” he said.