Last summer I took a drive up Route 17 for the sole purpose of shooting this and two other abandoned diners along its route. The drive to my in-laws on Thanksgiving Day was my first opportunity to revisit them, even while just speeding by, and see how they stood.
As it turned out, I barely caught a glimpse of the other two diners near Liberty New York, the I86 Diner and the Sullivan Diner, because the new bypass was finally and rather freshly opened. Both of those diners were on a stretch of Route 17 that had 2 stop lights. Route 17 is being upgraded, possibly to become a part of the Interstate Highway System with the expected designation if I86, and traffic lights no longer can be part of the highway. So they built a bypass, which opened, I believe in the last 2 months, and those diners are no longer on the highway, which I suppose makes it even more unlikely they ever will reopen. You can see my shots of the I86 Diner here, here, and here, while the Sullivan Diner images are here, here, and here.
The Roods Creek diner is the furthest from New York City, in Hancock, not far from Binghamton, and in the least populated area and least trafficked of the three. The intersection it sits near is a simple 4-way square intersection that does not even need alight even though the main road is a high speed highway. So I do not think it is getting a bypass, but I also have no expectations that it will reopen any time soon, but I always hope that one day it will surprise me. It has never been open in more than 10 years of driving past it. You can find my earlier Roods Creek diner shots here and here.
Adam Olson
14 Dec 2011Neat shots Mark! Very good shots for speeding by, hehe.
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Len Saltiel
14 Dec 2011Nice shots Mark. I am a big diner fan and these hit home.
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Dave DiCello
14 Dec 2011Love the vintage feel to these shots man, they do perfect with the subject
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