Imagine that the only road connecting two interstate highways is a two-lane road, part of it engineered in the 1920s, with miles and miles of it posted at 35, 45, or 50 miles per hour, with stop lights, and with no turn lanes at intersecting roads, forcing traffic to come to a halt for one car or truck waiting to turn.

You just described Route 60, connecting I-86 at Jamestown with I-90 at Dunkirk-Fredonia.

Route 60, well into the 21st century, has lower speed limits than it had 50 years ago. Route 60 is slow, dangerous and frustrating.

In fairness, the state of New York has made some improvements to Route 60 in the last 30 years or so.

Former Assemblyman Bill Parment, who was in the Democratic majority in the Assembly, got the State to build passing lanes on “Airport Hill” in the Town of Ellicott in the early 90s (even though Ellicott was not in his district at the time).

The decades of motorists climbing Airport Hill at 15 or 20 miles per hour behind a struggling truck, were finally, blessedly over.

Recently the State created 2 short passing lanes between Sinclairville and Cassadaga.

Just this year, after a tragic accident that claimed a child’s life on Route 60 in Fredonia involving a car waiting to make a turn into a business, the State finally created a turn lane from the Route 83 intersection to the traffic circle at Route 20.

What more should we urge the State to do to make traveling Route 60 less slow, dangerous and frustrating?

First, the State should reverse its decision to have over 2 miles of Route 60 in the town of Gerry below the normal 55 mph speed limit. The most recent reduced speed area goes through a swamp with absolutely no intersecting roads. A bad decision made by the state, apparently under pressure from a town official who lives on this stretch of Route 60.

Second, the State should revisit building a bypass of the stop light at the 4 corners in Gerry. Decades ago, for example, the State built a Route 60 bypass of the Village of Sinclairville. A bypass of the four corners in Gerry would speed the movement of people and goods and save a tremendous amount of fuel.

Third, every intersecting road along Route 60 should have a turn lane. No traffic between I-86 and I-90 should ever have to come to a dead stop because a vehicle is turning onto another road.

Fourth, the short passing lanes between Sinclairville and Cassadaga are a nice start but are inadequate. Happily, there are no rivers, ravines, or other significant physical obstacles to adding additional passing lanes all along Route 60.

Fifth, apparently the stretch of Route 60 between Gerry and Sinclairville is limited by its original engineering from the 1920s. It appears that most drivers heading south from Cassadaga slow down when they reach the antiquated portion of Route 60 from Sinclairville to Gerry. They sense that the road is somehow less safe to travel at the posted 55 mph. This stretch needs to be redesigned. The repeated humps and curves that restrict visibility of the road ahead need to be removed. Passing lanes need to be constructed to get around the all too common 48 mph drivers in the 55 mph zone.

Almost no one expects the State to spend millions of dollars to have a 4 lane State highway connect I-86 and I-90. The improvements cited above, however, are reasonable requests to the State.

The State Department of Transportation in Albany may not see Route 60 improvements as a high priority.

In 1991, as co-chair of the Route 17 Expressway Advisory Committee, I encountered a State DOT that did not want to finish a 4 lane Route 17 (now I-86) from Stedman, just west of the Chautauqua Lake Bridge (finally opened in 1982 nine years earlier) to the Pennsylvania State line.

The State DOT, to discourage our efforts to secure State and Federal funds to complete the 4 lane highway, gave us and our Senators and Congressman an inflated estimate of $100,000,000 to finish the highway.

We in Chautauqua County tirelessly continued our demand that the road be completed. We secured Federal Funds in the 1991 highway bill (the Intermodel Surface Transportation Act of 1991) that forced the State to put up its share to finish the road.

Just 6 years later, in 1997, the completed 4 lane Route 17 was opened.

Its total cost was $60,000,000, not the State DOT estimate of $100,000,000. When was the last time you heard of a government project coming in 40% under estimate? The State did not want to finish a 4 lane Route 17. Chautauqua County’s leaders persevered despite the State’s lack of interest in this vital highway for us in the Southern Tier.

The moral of the story is if Chautauqua County asks for something important to its chance to thrive, it will prevail. Whether it is getting the State to improve Route 60 or getting the U.S. Department of Transportation to give us back Essential Air Service, as the Bible says “Ask and it shall be given unto you.”

Fred Larson served on the Chautauqua County Legislature from 1985-93 and again from 2013-14, served as co-chair of the Route 17 Expressway Advisory Committee from 1989-93 and was Chautauqua County Attorney from 1998-2005.