2023 fatal bus crash leads to fast completion of emergency access road on I-84

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Motivated by the fatal September, 19, 2023 bus crash, the state of New York just finished work on an emergency access road to I-84 in Orange County. The access road will allow local first responders from the Town of Wawayanda to respond to crashes and other emergencies on the interstate much more quickly. Depending on where along I-84 a scene is, emergency crews could be there in under five minutes. Previously, without the short-cut from Route 49 to either the eastbound or westbound lanes, the trip could take 15 minutes. The response to the September 2023 bus crash was hindered, Wawayanda firefighters said Thursday. A charter bus carrying a high school band from Long Island to Pennsylvania left the road and went down a hill between the eastbound and westbound lanes, just one mile from where the new emergency access road is. At the time, firefighters could not make a straight line to the scene. "I-84 was completely gridlocked coming through," Wawayanda/ Slate Hill Assistant Fire Chief Shaun Graham said as he drove up the road to test the department's new remote gate opener, "so the apparatus had to weave in and out. This would have gotten us way closer and we would have been able to get there faster." Another assistant chief, Michael Dally, said that since he joined the department 22 years ago, the department has lobbied state and federal governments for an access road. "It went up to the federal level," Dally recalled, "but I think there were funding issues." Then the bus crash happened. "There were no more funding issues after the bus accident," he said. "It took a tragic event to change things, and everything was fast-tracked." Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a press release that since the crash her team has prioritized requests for access gates statewide, including this one. "These plans go back 20 years, so it's good they were prepared for this," Graham said. "They were smooth and listened to our concerns throughout the process and it was expedient for them to get this done." Town Supervisor Denise Quinn said the new access to the highway is also especially important because the town just started its own ambulance service, which will also be responding to crashes on I-84. "