Utica, New York Speed Traps

Traffic leaving the NYS Thruway (Exit 31) Utica, NY use Route 12 North to get to Fort Drum and areas in the Adirondacks. Route 12 N & S will have NYS Troopers & County Sheriffs sitting on the top of Deerfield Hill and other locations on Route 12. This traffic coridor results in numberous tickets from April – September. Speed limit is 55 MPH and the NYS Thurway is 65 MPH…motorists lose track of their speed and will be pulled over!

State Police sit off the road behind the Turner St eastbound on-ramp…can’t really see them until it’s too late. Utica Police shoot laser on eastbound 5S traffic from the Culver Ave eastbound on-ramp. They sit far enough up the ramp so that you have little time to react once you see them.

Be careful on all portions of the Utica-Rome Expressway. There is a satellite state police barracks in Marcy, just a few miles from Utica… and the main barracks is in Oneida, which is a few miles beyond Rome. The state police use this as their main route between the two offices, so you never know if they’re just running transport, or if they’re looking to pick off speeders.

The greatest threat to speeders is within the Town of Marcy. This is where I’ve seen people pulled over most often, and there’s a new Town Hall under construction. Coincidence? You decide.

Thankfully, they aren’t too creative about hiding–the usual places like U-Turns and onramps–but sometimes with curves or tall grass in the median, you may not see them until well after they’ve seen you.

The one saving grace used to be the portion where NY49 straddles the NY Thruway (I-90) for the last few miles leading into Utica… with guardrails on both sides and no U-turns whatsoever, there’s nowhere for the bears to hide. But they have a few newer cars WITHOUT a rooftop light bar, so you have to be even more careful about watching the other cars on the road before you hit the gas.

One more note – there are often road work zones marked off, even when there is no actual road work going on. Or they’ll frequently post the signs 5-6 miles ahead of the actual work. But as long as the road work signs are posted, fines and points are doubled… even if there’s no actual work anywhere in sight. They love to zap people here, so don’t take any chances!

There are usually two or three troopers sitting and ready. They tend to blend into the guard rail or sit a little into the ditch so you cant see them. There is usually someone nabbed, so keep your watch out before coming over the hill.

NYS Troopers as well as Oneida County Sherrif’s sit just over the top of the crest of the hill underneath the first and second bridges and wait for traffic to crest before turning on instant on. My Valentine One has detected them from a half mile in each direction as ‘pops’ when traffic crests the hill. They also sit lower on the hill, still not sure where as I was nabbed with laser back in August of 1999. The whole hill on the way up and down should be taken as a cautious area. Very exploitave and should be investigated.