Schumer says new ramp will help with response times
Some firefighters and EMTs in Dutchess County have waited a decade for a new highway ramp they say will cut down response times. Now, as Lori Chung reports, Senator Charles Schumer is stepping in to make sure the project doesn't get caught in red tape.
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DUTCHESS COUNTY, N.Y. – "This project started approximately ten years ago," said Scott Post, East Fishkill Fire District Chief.
So close, but so far. That's one way to describe the distance between the Wiccopee firehouse and I-84. And now that $1 million state dollars have finally been earmarked to build a new emergency access ramp, there's fear the project might be delayed even further by the sluggish bureaucratic process.
"There were motorists stranded on the road for 14 plus hours. Had we had this emergency access point, it would have made access to get to them to deliver supplies or get them off the road a lot easier than it was," Post said.
Chief Scott Post cites the difficulty helping drivers during last winter's snowstorm as one case where quick entry to I-84 could have made a major difference.
When these trucks are activated, they have to travel up to four miles to get to I-84 and the time it takes to get to the highway can literally mean the difference between life and death.
"The quicker you get there and the quicker you can deal with the problem, the more likely it is that the person's life is saved," said Senator Charles Schumer.
Schumer is asking the federal highway administration to fast track their approval of the new ramp. He sent them a letter this week. The agency projects construction to begin next June, but Schumer wants the project to move forward in the next few weeks. Officials say the route firefighters and EMTs now use to get to the highway adds up to six minutes to the time it takes to answer a call.
"A lot of times, we have to go west and come back east and fight traffic. It's just a pain," Post said.
"It's just bureaucracy," Schumer said. "They have a long list of projects, but none of them are, very few of them are life and death. This is life and death."