Route 77

Orleans County is working a motor vehicle accident on Route 77 and Alabama fire police have been dispatched to shut down northbound traffic at Roberts Road.

We have no further information on the actual accident.

UPDATE 7:16 p.m.: Alabama Fire Department asked to set up a landing zone for Mercy Flight.

UPDATE 7:42 p.m.: Two Mercy Flight helicopters have landed at the Alabama landing zone, but one needs to move to a location north of the accident because the roadway is impassible for the transport ambulance.

UPDATE 7:49 p.m.: Route 77 will be shut down for quite some time, according to an Alabama chief. Mercy EMS being dispatched to scene. One patient taken to Medina's hospital, the second bird sent to a Shelby landing location. It was a two-car head-on collision.

Correction: Though Route 77 is Alleghany Road through most of Genesee County, it stays Alleghany Road heading north at the intersection with Lewiston Road. At the intersection Route 77 jogs to the west. It's Route 63 (as a commenter points out) after the intersection of Alleghany and Lewiston. In this post, I transposed the dispatchers saying Alleghany Road to "Route 77" without realizing that section of Alleghany Road is actually Route 63.

As we posted previously, southbound Route 77 is closed for culvert repair. FYI: The detour is rather lengthy, taking you west on Cohocton Road, south on Lake Road and then back east on Route 33.

Press release:

A section of Route 77 (Allegany Road) in the town of Pembroke, Genesee County, between Route 33 and Cohocton Road will be closed beginning Thursday, April 5, for approximately four weeks in the southbound direction only. Northbound travel will not be impacted.

Crews will be replacing a culvert which is located just south of Cohocton Road. The schedule calls for the road to reopen in both directions by April 30.

Route 77 in the southbound direction will be closed between Cohocton Road and Route 33. A detour will be posted directing motorists to take Cohocton Road to Lake Road to Route 33 back to Route 77. A second culvert located closer to Route 33 will be replaced at a later date. The same detour will be used.

This work is part of a larger highway project to improve the condition of Route 77 from the NYS Thruway Interchange 48A to just north of Sumner Road in the towns of Pembroke, Darien and Village of Corfu, Genesee County.

The project entails widening the shoulders except within the village limits, replacing guide rails, extending culvert pipes, improving drainage, resurfacing the retaining walls under the railroad bridge, improving sidewalks, and modifying the entrance to Darien Lake Theme Park. A longer dedicated access ramp will be provided to store vehicles accessing the park which will improve traffic flow in the area. This work follows a 2009 highway project to mill and resurface the pavement on routes 77 and 33 and to replace signs.

The schedule calls for much of the work to be completed before Memorial Day. Remaining work will resume after Labor Day in the fall.

For real-time travel information, call 511 or visit www.511NY.org

An alleged drunken driver reportedly started a four-car accident at 2:04 p.m., Saturday, on Route 77 near Route 5 in Pembroke after she rear-ended a car in front of her.

The driver's car then continued forward -- after the first car it hit was pushed out of the way -- and struck a third car in the rear, which hit the car in front of it.

Charged with DWI was Heidi J. Berkes, 27, of North Madison Street, Rome.

Berkes was driving a 2005 Ford SUV when she came upon two cars stopped at the intersection of Route 77 and Route 5 and third car immediately in front of her slowing.

She reportedly struck a car driven by Justin C. Mahar, 19, of Rebecca Street, North Syracuse. Mahar's car was pushed off the road and then Berkes' SUV struck a car driven by Matthew F. Endres, 19, of Carrie Marie Lane, Hllton, which then struck a car driven by Michele Lillie, 39, of Buffalo Road, Erie.

Injured in the accident were Cory Delahunt, 26, a passenger in Berkes' SUV, Endres and Lillie. 

Berkes and Mahar were not injured, and the seven other passengers in the four vehicles were not injured.

Mahar was cited for alleged unlicensed operation.

The accident was investigated by Sgt. Greg Walker.

An elderly woman driving southbound on Route 77 has apparently had a seizure while driving.

Mercy EMS is being dispatched to the Thruway overpass at Route 77.

The driver was first reported by a caller to the dispatch center for alleged erratic driving. She almost hit a stop sign, realized it was in front her and backed up and pulled back into traffic, going southbound in the northbound lane of Route 77.

A Sheriff's deputy pulled behind her minutes later and reported she was driving 12 mph and not stopping.  He requested that State Police block the intersection at the Thruway.

A Trooper did manage to get to the intersection just before the driver arrived and stopped traffic.

The driver -- born in 1934 according to the scanner report -- was going up the bridge at 5 mph. She then hit a guard rail.  The next call said she had run into a snow bank.

A law enforcement officer then reported she was in a seizure and asked dispatch to expedite Mercy EMS. 

The woman has a pulse, according to a law enforcement officer on scene, but is unconscious.

UPDATE 12:55 p.m.: Mercy Flight is being dispatched.