Reed Looks To Mediate Thruway Repairs

Image by Justin Gould/WNYNewsNow.

IRVING – Congressman Tom Reed (R) says he is willing to mediate between New York State and the Seneca Nation with the hope of speeding up repairs to the New York State Thruway.

In a statement to the media Friday, the congressman said the Senecas are willing to allow the State on the reservation to fix the I-90.





“It is time for Governor Cuomo to put his politics with the nation aside in the name of the safety of the traveling public,” said Reed. “Therefore, we would like to invite both parties to a meeting on Monday in Irving to bring this issue to a permanent close.”

In August, elected officials from across Chautauqua and Cattaraugus County joined Reed to call on New York to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure.

Specifically, Reed said the Governor has failed to address road conditions in areas that surround the Seneca Nation.





















Citing the possibility of injury to motorists and damage to vehicles, the Congressman served the Governor and other DOT officials with a formal letter of defective conditions.

New York State’s Thruway Authority responded to Reed’s claims almost a month later in a letter from the Thruway Authority’s Executive Director.

“Our position is simple: the moment you grant us permission, we will make the necessary repairs — in fact, we are eager to complete this project and are ready to begin work as soon as tomorrow,” said Driscoll.

Furthermore, the Thruway Authority says they have been frustrated that multiple attempts to secure permission, going back to written requests in May‎ 2014 and September 2017, and an attempt to raise this project again in a meeting this past January, were either met with silence or rejection by Nation leadership.









The Seneca Nation maintains that they have not prevented the state from working on the roads but rather the state seems uninterested in working with them.

 

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