TOWN OF WALLKILL – Crews have officially broken ground on a major overhaul of the Route 17 bridge over Route 17K in the Town of Wallkill, near the Sullivan County line.
The $17 million project, slated for completion in late 2027, will replace the aging structure with modern steel girders in a jointless deck. The existing bridge is 68 years old.These upgrades will bring the structure up to federal standards for a future transition to Interstate 86.
Julianne Fuda is the New York State DOT Region 8 director, and she said the construction should have minimal impact on motorists, “So there is the chance that, you know, you may have minimal delays, obviously, by having to slow down through the work zone, but that is needed to make sure that we can safely construct our new bridge for not only our construction staff, but also for the traveling public.”
The new bridge will have a clearance of 16-fett, eight inches above Route 17K, two feet higher than the original structure, allowing it to meet the latest interstate standards and and reduce the potential for bridge strikes.
The law always says to slow down in work zones, even if there are no workers present.
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