Three road closures expected to cause havoc in Chester

Route 17 West on-ramp to close for six months By Pamela Chergotis Chester — Set your alarm clocks a bit earlier next week. Your commute is about to get longer. The on-ramp for westbound traffic at Route 17’s exit 126 in the Village of Chester will close on Monday, June 25, and will stay closed until Dec. 15. That means drivers headed to points west, like Middletown, will have to continue on to Goshen to get on Route 17. They will still be able to use the ramp to travel east to Monroe, or to continue on Route 94 to Florida. Village of Chester officials were taken by surprise Wednesday when the state transportation department called about the closure. “Did anybody even think about how this will affect emergency services?” Mayor Philip Valastro asked. “I wish I had known about this months ago.” Valastro said he and representatives from the fire department, ambulance corps, and 911 center in Chester will have to work out a plan with the state police and transportation department this weekend. He suggested that ambulances might still be able to use Route 17 to go west to the Orange Regional Medical Center in Goshen if the state police agree to shut down a lane in the event of an emergency. “I really don’t know at this point,” he said. A combination of detours will make for a complicated traffic pattern in the village. In addition to the on-ramp at exit 126, nearby West Street, which connects with Route 94, is already closed and will remain so for another two years. Both closures are due to the state’s work to replace the old highway overpass west of the new interchange. A third closure, of Leone Lane at the railroad track in Chester’s Industrial Park, also starts on Monday and is expected to last until Friday June 29. Village street commissioner John Bell is asking commuters to take Route 17M to Route 94 to Nucifora Boulevard to enter the Industrial Park. Although Leone Lane will be closed for only a few days, it is expected to contribute to the general havoc next week as confused drivers struggle to orient themselves to new traffic patterns. Cars and trucks are expected to back up into side streets that normally don’t see much traffic. Valastro suggests that commuters give themselves extra time in the morning and use the weekend to plan several alternate routes. “It’s time to get out the maps,” he said.