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Building the Road
While all the squabbling about the route over the Hawk’s Nest was settled, work progressed elsewhere on the roadway. By spring 1930, the contract for construction of the section between Pond Eddy and Barryville was about to be put out to bid. Work on roadway surveys and acquisition of rights-of-way was carried out during the summer and fall of 1930 and work began in October of that year on that section. In early 1931, it was announced that the Pond Eddy-Barryville section would be completed later in the year and that the contract had been let for the Minisink Ford to Narrowsburg stretch.

By the spring of 1932, work was underway on the section from Minisink Ford to Narrowsburg and the Barryville to Pond Eddy segment. Right-of-way maps for the segment between Narrowsburg and Callicoon had been completed and more than 150 parcels were needed for this 12-mile segment. The right-of-way for the Barryville to Minisink segment was not acquired until September 1934 when the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors agreed to purchase 55.7 acres of the old Delaware & Hudson Canal right-of-way from the Erie Railroad. It was noted that if the old canal bed had not been acquired for this project, the cost would have been considerably greater than the $4,000 paid for this land.

By the fall of 1932, work was underway on all segments of Route 97 including the segment over Hawk’s Nest. It was announced that a 1,000-foot-long, 22-foot-wide viaduct containing 13 spans was be built to cross the grade changes at Callicoon and would enter the village on an upper level street. Bursen Engineering Company of Manhattan was awarded the contract of $130,000 and it was to be completed by December 1933. The construction of Route 97 required the excavation or more land than had occurred before in Sullivan County. An average project required the excavation of about 18,000 square yards per mile while 48,000 square yards per mile would be moved for Route 97.

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