Rolland E. Kidder

The other day, early in the morning, as I drove east on I-86, a spectacular vista appeared as I neared Exit 12. The clouds were low, in the distance fog had settled over the Conewango Valley, and yet I could still see the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains off in the distance down past Clarks Corners.

It made me realize again just how beautiful the drive is along I-86, the Southern Tier Expressway.

When it comes to this road, I go way back to the days when it was still a “pipe-dream.” There was a Route 17 Association which for years had been lobbying Albany for a four-lane highway. The old Route 17 was primarily a two-lane road that meandered all the way from Westfield to Harriman, New York down close to the Hudson River. At Binghamton it turned into a four-lane artery but, even here, it was restricted by cross roads and occasional traffic lights. It was a long, slow way to get downstate and to New York City.

What finally changed things was the passage (in large part through the efforts of Senator Robert Kennedy) of the Appalachian Regional Commission Act that brought federal dollars into the area which could be used for infrastructure projects, including highway construction. It took many years but, gradually, the expressway that we now call I-86 began to creep west from Binghamton to Corning, eventually to the shores of Chautauqua Lake and then finally, the last section, to I-90 near Erie.

There were a lot of people who deserve credit for the road but I will mention just one, Bill Hennessy. Bill had grown up in Wellsville and finally became Commissioner of Transportation for the State of New York. It was Bill who saw the “big picture” and wanted the road to be a scenic and spectacular highway as it wound its way through the Southern Tier.

Think of the vistas we now have. There are close-up views of the Allegheny River near Salamanca. There is the incredible view on either side of the Alfred-Almond Pass as you come off the high point of the highway in Allegany County. Then, there is the winding descent eastbound as you come down from the pass over the hill at Howard, just west of Bath—special, “awesome” might be the over-used word.

Then there is probably one of the most spectacular highway views in the East, the Visitor’s Center off the eastbound lane overlooking Chautauqua Lake near Bemus Point. When you drive in, you don’t at first see the Lake but the view of it emerges as you park your car and then it fills the whole horizon. The view is incredible with nearly the whole south basin of the Lake stretched out in front of you.

There is another whole story of how the road got to this particular place—at first planned for being closer to the lake, local opposition pushed the right-of-way further up the hill. (It also gobbled up a lot of John Cheney’s farm, which he wasn’t pleased with.) But, when it got here, you have to give the State DOT engineers (and likely, Bill Hennessy) credit—they saw the view and planned the overlook that we now have.

As visitors and truckers pull into this stop, I can envision that a few of them have said: “Someday, I am going to come back and live in this beautiful place!” The premier vista on Vista Highway, right here in Chautauqua County. It is one of those places that makes you realize that you are lucky to live here.

Rolland Kidder