Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano was one of a host of state and local political officials supporting the proposal to widen Route 17 in Orange and Sullivan counties.

ALBANY—A coalition of more than 100 business, civic, political and labor industry interests are calling for New York State to spend a total of $500 million to expand the existing Route 17 in Orange and Sullivan counties to accommodate new development that is expected to make current traffic conditions on the roadway much worse in the years to come.

The organization 17-Forward-86 staged a press conference today at the State Legislative Office Building in Albany where it unveiled its initiative to convince state lawmakers to fund a third lane each way on Route 17 from the Exit 131 Harriman interchange to Exit 103 in Monticello.

Business and political leaders from Orange and Sullivan counties contend that the existing Route 17 in that approximately 45-mile corridor is already heavily traveled with the highly popular Woodbury Common Premium Outlet to the south in Central Valley and the new Resorts World Catskills to the north in Sullivan County.