CARROLLTON, N.Y. — For the first time in several years, the condition of Interstate 86 from Randolph to Allegany doesn’t warrant any work to the surface of the once deteriorating highway.
The state Department of Transportation recently announced paving of the 7-mile stretch of the Southern Tier Expressway from Carrollton to the eastern Seneca Nation of Indians boundary near Allegany has been completed.
The $22.2 million project was the second of two phases that started last year at Exit 20 in Salamanca and continued eastward. This year, the work was performed 3 miles west of Exit 23 at Seneca Junction to the eastern Seneca boundary.
“It’s beginning to wind down for the construction season,” said Susan Surdej, spokesperson for the New York State Department of Transportation (D.O.T.). “All the paving work has been completed, so the remaining work is the (rehabilitation) of the five bridges along that stretch.”
Surdej called the bridge work “relatively minor” and said it will include new joints, repairs to the steel, bearings and fresh coats of paint. The official completion date expected for the contract is
September.
Commuters can expect the highway reduced to one lane near bridges when under construction.
Although the bridge work will continue into next year, the project’s contractor, Elma-based Oakgrove Construction, was able to perform all necessary paving work without closing Interstate 86. Last year, the highway was closed between Salamanca and Seneca Junction and all traffic
was detoured onto Route 417. Public officials, including members of the Cattaraugus County Legislature, opposed the detour.
Rehabilitation work in some form on Interstate 86 in the county has been performed annually since 2011, when rehabilitation began from Randolph to Steamburg. In 2012, a project from Steamburg to Salamanca was delayed due to a disagreement between the D.O.T. and the Senecas over terms of the contract.
Last year, members of both entities celebrated a better working relationship with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a section of Interstate 86 from Salamanca to Carrollton.
The projects have included complete pavement rehabilitation; new median barriers; and, on Seneca territory, new Seneca-language signs.
