No certainty yet on ‘seriously deteriorated’ culvert under State Route 17

By Matt Freeze —

It remains unknown whether a structurally deficient culvert under State Route 17 will be addressed with recently announced resurfacing projects that will take place over the next several years.

The culvert that goes under the highway to the Village of Owego Wastewater Treatment Plant has been designated to have “serious deterioration” with a 2 out of 7 on its inspection rating scale.

That scale states that a rating of 2 is used to “shade between” ratings of “serious deterioration or not functioning as originally designed” and “totally deteriorated or potentially hazardous.”

Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that over the next several years, drivers will see two additional resurfacing projects on two sections of State Route 17. You can read more on this as part of a story posted here. 

In particular, that looks like an adjacent 4.7-mile section within the Town and Village of Owego, including both exits 64 and 65, over a three-year period starting next summer.

Additionally, Hochul said work on a six-mile section of the highway between exits 61 and 62 in Nichols is scheduled to begin in 2027.

Asked whether the planned Owego work would address the concerns about a failing culvert, the state Department of Transportation said, “Details about the highway reconstruction project will be available when we get closer to the start of construction next year.”

When asked about the plan to address the “serious deterioration,” a DOT representative said Friday that all questions regarding culvert maintenance should be directed to village officials, the same answer given when the Morning Times asked in July.

Village Trustee Laura Spencer said that she wasn’t aware of whether the culvert would be addressed with the planned highway work.

To fully replace the culvert, Spencer previously said the estimated cost is between $7 million and $10 million.

The wastewater treatment plant was built in 1964, three years before the highway was constructed in 1967.

At that time, a resolution was passed by the Village of Owego trustees that all maintenance costs and responsibilities for the dry culvert would belong to the village.

Regarding the two large-scale paving projects planned in the wake of this year’s completion of a $47 million resurfacing project of six miles of state Route 17 in the Town of Owego, Hochul and elected officials at the state level have praised the decision to renovate the highly traveled corridor.

“Smart infrastructure investments like the crucial highway reconstruction of the Southern Tier Expressway will help keep New Yorkers moving,” Hochul said. “Interstate 86 is a critical highway bringing people to Lockheed Martin, Tioga Downs, Binghamton University, and countless other regional destinations, so it is crucial to rehabilitate this section so motorists can experience everything the Southern Tier has to offer.”

State Senator Tom O’Mara called the modernization a “smart investment” and “critical” for both local and regional economies.

Assemblyman Christopher Friend stated that the rehabilitation represents an important investment in the long-term safety and reliability of Tioga County’s transportation network.

(Matt Freeze is a senior writer at The Morning Times)