St. Lawrence County businesses and residences were not thrilled with the idea of Route 11 being re-routed to bypass major centers including Canton and Potsdam or creating a four-lane highway somewhere between Route 11 and state Route 37. After a public meeting this past January, the county did not receive enough support for the two proposals to put either into effect.
The Director of Planning in St. Lawrence County Keith Zimmerman describes the first proposal for the county as the rooftop highway, which is known as Interstate 98. It would be a limited-access highway connecting Interstate 81 and Interstate 87, with the possibility of the highway continuing across northern Vermont, New Hampshire, and connecting to I-95 in Maine.
The second proposal is a re-routing of Route 11 to bypass towns like Canton and Potsdam in order to reduce through traffic and simultaneously reduce congestion. “Several alternatives to bypasses were being evaluated by the regional office of the NYS DOT,” Zimmerman states. The state is still going over the two proposals with slight altercations in order to decide what the best option is for the county.
According to Zimmerman and the county planning office, the local economy suffers from a lack of high speed and reliable transportation to and from its businesses and ports of entry. “Proximity to an interstate is an important siting consideration and this is impeding our ability to successfully recruit new business investment,” says Zimmerman. The highway would create new connections and lots of construction employment and economic activity for the county.
Tanner Sanderson has lived in Canton his whole and he believes the highway or bypass are great ideas in order to help the traffic problem. “The area gets so congested, especially when all of the colleges in the area are in session,” says Sanderson. “Either proposal would definitely help with traffic and maybe even draw people to the area because it’d be so easy to get through Canton and Potsdam.”
While some communities would prosper with the highway, they will likely prosper at the expense of those that do not. “Opponents to I-98 argue that the rural character of the county will be diminished, that valuable farms and farmland will be utilized on whatever alignment is chosen,” says Zimmerman. Needing to avoid rivers, creeks, wetlands and other sensitive environmental areas would make the project more difficult and costlier, which is another reason for residents to not support the proposal.
Anna Reale, who lives in Canton, works in Potsdam and does not believe that there is bad traffic for her commute, but the bypass or highway would be convenient to have in the county. “It would probably make my commute to and from work faster but if it existed when they redid the bridge in Canton it would’ve been more helpful than now. At this point I’m not sure if it’s worth the money,” Reale says.
The main reason for the proposals not getting approved yet is because the county has simply not gained enough support to. In the end, Zimmerman says the final decision will be primarily political. “We are now looking at Congress and the State government to finance a perception of need based on some non-traffic considerations,” he states. “Those opposed to such an effort argue that the government could spend far less directly subsidizing businesses to locate here if the intent of investment is to generate employment.” Others, who are in favor of the highway, believe that it will bring new business to the area, something the government cannot generate itself.