Verizon Wireless says it has started construction on the first four of 13 cell phone tower sites it’s planning along the Northway in New York.
The sites along Interstate 87 in North Hudson, Schroon Lake, Lewis and Warrensburg were approved by the Adirondack Park Agency back in the spring. Two additional sites in Chesterfield and Lewis are before the A-P-A for review.
The new sites are expected to close a 50-mile gap along the Northway in the Adirondack region where it is difficult to get cell phone service.
Verizon is paying for the new towers itself, part of 100-million-dollars of investments by the company this year in upstate New York.
State Senator Betty Little has pushed for expanded cell service in the Adirondacks, especially along the Northway where a 63-year-old Brooklyn man crashed and died of hypothermia in 2007 after he was unable to call for help because there was no cell service.