WURTSBORO – The calls to keep Exit 114 on Route 17 in Wurtsboro open continue to grow louder.
Republican Sullivan County Legislators Terry Bernardo and Nicholas Salomone Jr. have written a letter to the State Department of Transportation (DOT) requesting that the exit remains open. Concerns over the possible closure of Exit 114 have grown as the DOT gets closer to finalizing its plans for bringing Route 17 in line with federal standards to make it an interstate highway.
“A single off-ramp may not seem like it would be missed, but in the case of Exit 114, the impacts of its closure would be destructive to the community,” Bernardo and Salomone wrote in the letter, which was also sent to Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, State Senator Peter Oberacker, Congressman Marc Molinaro and U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.
“(Exit 114) provides quick, convenient access to hundreds of homes, but a significant number of the 3,000 vehicles who use it daily are also headed to the downtown business district of Wurtsboro via County Route 171 and Sullivan Street,” added the Sullivan County Legislators. “Those merchants depend upon that traffic to sustain their livelihoods, since Wurtsboro’s other major exit, 113, routes cars and trucks around the core business district via Route 209.”
They also noted their opposition to closing any other exits on scenic Route 17, including 115 (County Route 61/Burlingham Road in Bloomingburg), 111 (Wolf Lake Road in Rock Hill and 108 (County Route 173 in Monticello).
The DOT will hold public hearings about the potential exit closures in September 2025 and provide an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the Federal Highway Administration three months later. The fate of the Sullivan County exits would likely come in February of 2026.
