WALLKILL, NY-Approximately $8.6 million in funding has been earmarked for a tunnel that would link major retail properties on either side of Route 17 here with one another. US Congresswoman Sue Kelly and Wallkill Town supervisor John Ward say that $800,000 in federal funding for the tunnel project was included in the $286.4-billion multi-year federal transportation bill. Those funds will pay for engineering, architectural and design work.

Ward says that about $7.8 million in federal funding has been earmarked for the long-discussed tunnel project through the Orange County Transportation Council's Transportation Improvement Program. He estimates that the total project cost could be about $9.2 million and that it could break ground sometime in 2007.

While no construction timetable has been set, due to the multi-year payout of funds from the Orange County Transportation Council's Transportation Improvement Program, the project will take at least several years to complete. The remaining funding for the project will come from other federal or state transportation grant programs as well as about $466,000, which will be generated from local sources.

Specifically, Ward says he hopes to set up a Transportation District, which will be made up of the four major retail centers that will benefit from the project--the Galleria at Crystal Run, Orange Plaza, Dunning Farms and the Wallkill Center--which will jointly finance the remaining funding necessary for the tunnel and perhaps also pay for future maintenance programs for the tunnel. "This tunnel will help correct the traffic problems on Route 211 and it will reduce the pollutants caused by people who go from one mall to the other and have to sit at seven traffic lights."

"The traffic pattern between shopping centers here on Route 211 is very complicated and congested," Kelly adds. "And the population continues to grow here in Orange County, it's only going to get worse."