Central New York’s Favorite Route to Old Forge Finally Open Again

Plenty of people have been traveling back and forth between the Utica-Rome area and Old Forge for months and for months they've had to deal with a "long" detour due to bridge construction. Well, the day has finally come for Route 28 to be completely open again for northern travelers and camp owners.

The New York State Department of Transportation and other local officials held a press conference Friday to announce the reopening of the portion of Route 28 that was shut down back in March. The closure was so crews could work, without the obstacle of traffic, to replace the bridge over the Forestport Reservoir and Woodhull Road. The goal to have this job completed was July 4th weekend and the men and women of the New York State DOT delivered early. State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, who was just in Utica yesterday to mark the completion of the Route 5s/Harbor Point Project, said of the bridge replacement,

The strength of our economy and the well-being of our communities depend in no small measure on a safe and reliable transportation network. The rehabilitation of these bridges will facilitate travel and tourism in both the Mohawk Valley and the Adirondacks, demonstrating that under Governor Cuomo's leadership, New York is not only building back, but building back better.

Echoing sentiments from yesterday's big announcement, the Mohawk Valley Region is seeing a ton of state investment which leads to bigger and better progress for our area.

Many people complained about the detour that took motorists through Boonville. Even for a short period of time local residents were upset over people ignoring the detour and using routes designed for local traffic. Regardless, everything went fairly smooth and we can all go back to just worrying about those one or two slow drivers on State Route 28 slowing down your weekend Adirondack plans.

See Photos of the Finished Product Below