REGIONAL – While Governor Cuomo's announcement this week of $100 million being parceled out among 1,600 municipalities for road repair work was welcomed by hard pressed towns and villages, highway superintendents are saying the money offered will be little more than a minor component of this season's road repair budgets.

Wawarsing did best in this lottery, coming away with $88,793. Rochester pulled down $63,015, Marbletown got $43,384, Shawangunk $42,185, while Mamakating was awarded $65,485 and Crawford $36,404. In addition, the Village of Ellenville received $2,372 and Bloomingburg $2, 264.

To put that $100 million in perspective, keep in mind the New York State budget this year ran to $155 billion.

For our area there are four state roads of considerable importance: Route 209 in the Rondout Valley, the only realistic road from Route 17 in Mamakating to Kingston; Route 52, our primary east-west artery over the Shawangunk Ridge to Pine Bush, Walden and Newburgh; Route 55 over the ridge to New Paltz and Gardiner; and Route 302, which runs down from Pine Bush to Middletown and Route 17.

Route 17, still known to some as "The Quickway," is supposed to be upgraded sometime soon to I-86, an interstate number, due partly to the construction of the Montreign Casino and Adelaar Resort complex near Monticello in Sullivan County, and partly to longheld plans for economic recovery in the Southern Tier.

Each of those important state highways is undergoing road work this summer.

Carl Chipman, supervisor of the Town of Rochester, says that work will begin in the next few weeks on raising the bridge over the Rondout Creek in Accord. He believes the bridge will be raised ten feet, which should secure it against the flooding that has periodically submerged it over the years, most recently during the tropical storms Irene and Lee. During the road work, Chipman believes the Department of Transportation will opt for single lane traffic, rather than closing 209 completely and routing traffic through Mettacahonts and around Accord.

Beyond the state DOT work on 209, Rochester superintendent for highways Wayne Kelder says there are no major road works planned in Rochester this summer.

Down the road a piece, Wawarsing highway superintendent Tony Paes notes that his major work for the year has been completed, which was the repaving of Berme Road from Foordmore down to Ellenville. Paes also noted considerable paving work done in Cragsmoor, and work that will be ongoing in Napanoch, Lackawack, Ulster Heights and Oak Ridge.

"A lot of work, it will be a busy summer for us," he said. "We would do more but we only get so many dollars in our budget."

Cross the ridge to Shawangunk and you will find the DOT at work on another span, the Verkeerderkill Bridge, which lies close to the junction of route 52 with Burlingham Road. The bridgework was supposed to have begun on June 3 but actually began on June 20. It is not known how long the work will take. For now, the detour route is on St. John's Estate Road to Burlingham Road, where a temporary traffic light has been installed.

Other work in Shawangunk this summer will include completion of the repaving of the Oregon Trail, about 2.5 miles of road. Jim Barrett, the acting superintendent of highways said, "I'm still working on the list of projects. We are looking to repair the edges on Marl Road, and do tar and chip. Also there are roads in the hamlet that need work, and also there is work needed on Bruyn Turnpike."

Over the county line in Crawford, highway superintendent Larry Marshall said that the work on Hill Avenue will probably be completed in another month. The DOT work on Route 302 this year is confined to clearing the side of the road and removing trees and installing rumble strips. Next year, if all goes well, they will repave the road. Marshall's major project this summer will be the FEMA work on Crawford Street. While that is being done, the traffic will be one lane only during the day.

Meanwhile, looking off to Albany, there seems to be nothing but opacity regarding the spending of $27 billion on NYS Department of Transportation projects over the next five years. Following disagreement during budget season, the administration was due to show legislators what the DOT plans would be to allow for public comment. That hasn't happened and legislators went home with no agreement in place.

One result is that nobody knows what the state will spend on the conversion of Route 17 into Interstate 86, as well as improvements to aid the Montreign Casino project.