Schumer, Gillibrand, Ryan urge Federal Highway Administration to support I-84 crash gate

Orange County's federal representatives have added their voices to those calling for a new crash gate to be installed on a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 84.

Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Pat Ryan said the presence of such a gate would have reduced the response time for emergency vehicles during a Sept. 21 bus crash on I-84 in the town of Wawayanda that killed two adults and injured more than two dozen students, five of them critically.

The bus was one of six chartered by the Farmingdale School District to bring high school students to a band camp in Greeley, Pa.

Because there is no crash gate in the 10-mile stretch of the interstate between the Goshen and Mountain Road exits, fire trucks from the Slate Hill Fire District had to travel four miles from their firehouse to gain access to the interstate. Ambulances and others responding also had to travel out of their way.

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Slate Hill Fire Chief Michael Dally said at the time a crash gate could have reduced their response time by at least 5 to 10 minutes.

Local officials and the state police have been calling for a crash gate in that area for 20 years.

In a joint letter to FHA Administrator Shailen Bhatt, Schumer, Gillibrand and Ryan said that while the state submitted plans for a crash gate years ago, it was never finalized between the state Department of Transportation and the FHA.

"We urge you to work with New York State and the Slate Hill Fire District to create a 'crash gate' to improve emergency response times on I-84," their letter read in part. "Such a crash gate would be a first responders-only access road, and would greatly improve response times going forward."

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: I-84 crash gate support grows in wake of NY high school bus crash