Interstate 87: The Adirondack Northway

Chazy is a small village on Lake Champlain about 6 miles south of the border.

Champlain is the last village in NY State before customs on the Quebec Canadian Border. Here our Adirondack Northway, I-87 becomes Provincial 15 and will take you into Montreal, Canada. As far as roads go, our Interstates are far better designed and maintained than the Canadian equivalents. The last time I was there was in 2006. Usually, I try to be a booster type, especially in the Parks for tourism. But Champlain exit is in depression. All the independent places: gas station, truck repair and scales, diner, have gone out of business recently. The ones left are the corporate places. US 9 dies an ignoble death as a trash strewn cul de sac just south of the border stations, with a couple duty free stores on its last mile. There is hardly a business open in the village of Champlain. Though even in the country, commerce tends to favor the town over the city/village. NY State has a lot of problems due to very high taxes and regulations that seemed to have really affected the rural parts more than the urban. Even in the midst of the 2009 budget "crisis", the state managed to boost spending over all by 10%. But anyone can tell you, it's NYC and their metro area that call the shots for the rest of the state.

Champlain is named after Samuel de Champlain, (1567-1635), the French explorer who explored the Saint Lawence River valley then found a lake which now bears his name too.

Though Mooers, west of Champlain where NY 22 crosses US 11, is better off. The border towns depend on cross border tourism and trade and that has been throttled by stricter border controls at the once laid back and numerous Upstate New York crossings into Quebec. To be honest, I haven't been that way for quite a while, and maybe the stronger Loon, or Canadian dollar, has brought more Canadian shoppers and tourist back in. But it seems ironic that they should be trying to control our Canadian border when the other one seems wide open.