MONTICELLO – New York Route 17, which is gradually being converted to I-86, has several cell phone dead zones in Sullivan County.  Veteran county legislator Leni Binder has complained about that, frequently.

The county’s emergency Services commissioner agrees.  Richard Martinkovic says cell phone companies need to upgrade their service.  he said in recent years, there has been some improvement, but much more is needed.

“The public that is traveling who depends cell coverage for their health and safety really need to have the cell companies look at coverage and try to improve it so we do not have these dead zones,” Martinkovic said. “That not only is for the public, but also for emergency services because we also use those cell sites to communicate with our centers.”

Many of the hill and valley areas of NY17 have little to no service, creating potential danger, especially in bad weather.