An early sentence in Tuesday’s press release attributed to governor Kathy Hochul provided the alert reader the tipoff. “The project includes depth repairs and pavement resurfacing on a 15.5-mile section between exit 19 in Kingston and exit 20 in Saugerties,” it announced Tuesday.
Huh? Almost all the 40,000 motorists the release said travel between Kingston and Saugerties on an average day know there’s no way the distance between the two Thruway exits is 15.5 miles. As every weary Thruway traveler can tell you, the Kingston exit is at milepost 91.37 and the Saugerties exit at milepost 101.25, a distance of just under ten miles.
The daily papers, even the usually reliable Albany Times-Union, dutifully reported the governor’s press release unchanged.
The Thruway Authority plans to spend $21.3 million this year to resurface the roadway in both directions and make other improvements from milepost 93.8 two and a half miles north of the Kingston exit to milepost 109.3 about four and a half miles before Catskill-Cairo exit 21 in Greene County.
Crews from Callanan Industries will remove and replace the most deteriorated portions of pavement down to its subbase to improve the roadway’s structural integrity. In less-stressed portions of pavement, they’ll remove only the existing asphalt overlay and install a new two-course asphalt overlay. These repairs are intended to extend the service life of the pavement.
There’ll also be work at the parking area at the Malden service area at milepost 103.1, at the on and off ramps at exit 20, a relocated U-turn at milepost 98.0, and safety improvements such as new guide rails, new reflective line striping and upgrades to drainage and culverts.
The Thruway Authority’s is expected to spend $451 million on infrastructure capital improvements this year and $2.4 billion over the next five years.
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