By the time you read this article, the New York State Department of Transportation will have closed a four-mile stretch of Route 30 at its midpoint between Long Lake and Tupper Lake. On April 25, DOT contractors will have begun digging a 200-foot-long by 30-foot-deep ditch across the two lanes of Route 30 north to get to and repair the damaged culvert that runs beneath. All north- and southbound traffic will be rerouted through Sabattis Circle Drive, which runs parallel to Route 30 for 6 miles, for at least four weeks per the DOT’s optimistic estimate, perhaps six weeks or more by those of us more skeptical. This includes tractor-trailers, for which the 6-ton limit has been lifted, however prematurely.

Most Long and Tupper Lakers and other travelers first learned of this when they encountered digital highway signs placed short distances before Sabattis Circle’s north and south access-egress points reading, “Highway closed April 25 7 a.m.”

The signs were displayed on April 18, with no explanation offered for the length of the project. When I returned to Long Lake from a trip to Tupper that day, after a stop to talk to the construction crews readying their equipment and after doing a loop of Sabattis Circle to see what awaited us on April 25, most folks I encountered had no idea the project would last four or six or more weeks, nor were they aware of the Sabattis Circle detour.

Everyone I spoke to expressed dismay when I shared what I had learned from the construction supervisor; they knew Sabattis Circle Drive and feared for the safety of family members and friends who would be obliged to share the narrow, curve-filled road with two-way traffic, large 18-wheelers and unwary wildlife, including deer and moose. My wife travels three times a week between Long Lake and Tupper, where she serves as the lone psychiatric nurse at the Tupper Lake clinic. Other Long Lakers told me similar stories: of a daughter who teaches in Saranac Lake, a friend who’s a vet tech near Ray Brook, a wife who works in the Wild Center, of regular medical appointments in Tupper and Saranac Lake. I fear for my wife’s safety. My neighbors fear for their loved ones, as do I.

And so the questions. Why weren’t we informed in a timely manner that this was to happen? Why was there no public hearing? No opportunity to discuss options, contingencies? No financial impact survey, since local merchants who provide lodging and sustenance to travelers and wildlife tourists will suffer lost revenues? No environmental impact survey — the Northern New York Audubon has advised DOT that the project will adversely impact the nesting season of the myriad birds who flock to the Sabattis wetlands in the spring? Why the lifting of the 6-ton vehicle limit now, when the frost underlying the blacktop will begin to melt? Does DOT really think that the steady flow of traffic along Route 30 can be safely diverted to a narrow, melting county road?

I’ve written letters to Peter Karas, DOT commissioner, and to Nicholas Choubah, regional DOT director, who are responsible for the development and implementation of this plan. I questioned the speed of their implementation and the exclusion of the area’s stakeholders, two-and four-legged, in the planning. I predicted a possible public safety disaster, and I advised them that it would be they who would be held accountable should the worst — injury and death to any of the road’s greatly expanded traveller cohort — actually happen.

I closed the letters, as I end here, disclaiming any expectations that my letters and those from other interested individuals and organizations would cause DOT to halt the project until the information outlined above is gathered. The project appears to have gained unstoppable momentum. I did, however, request a meeting with them and local stakeholders to review what had occurred to ensure it did not happen again. Copies of those letters have been forwarded to the other state agencies responsible for the oversight of the Park and what takes place here — the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park Agency — and to our state, county and town elected officials. It’s all a part of the hue and cry that needs to be raised to make the point that those of us who live here, earn our livings here, refuse to be taken for granted and ignored, must be listened to and our comments seriously considered. In sum, our lived experiences surely outweigh bureaucratic expedience.

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Jack Carney lives in Long Lake.