Buttermilk Falls Road closes at the tracks this weekend, Sunday morning through Tuesday

If Buttermilk Falls Road is part of your daily route, this weekend is the one to remember. The Town of Schaghticoke posted a closure alert on its homepage this week: the road will be shut where it crosses the railroad tracks beginning Sunday, September 20 at 7 a.m., and is expected to reopen by 7 a.m. Tuesday, September 22.

The town is blunt about the scope. This is “a full and total closure of the roadway.” No vehicles, including emergency responders, will be able to cross the tracks at that spot until the work is finished. There is no detour signed in the alert, so plan your own: Route 40 and the connecting town roads will carry the traffic that normally uses the crossing.

What we know and what we don’t

The alert is short, and it leaves a few things unsaid. It doesn’t name the railroad or describe the work, though a two-day full closure at a crossing usually means the crossing surface or the track through it is being rebuilt, which can’t be done with cars rolling over it. It also doesn’t say whether the closure could run long. “By 7 a.m. Tuesday” is the town’s language, and we’ll update this article if the schedule moves.

The emergency-responder line matters

That one sentence is the reason to share this with neighbors. For two days, fire, ambulance and police coming from the other side of the tracks will have to go around. If you live on Buttermilk Falls Road or a road that feeds into it, it is worth a minute to think through how help would reach you and how you would get out, especially if someone in the house has a medical condition. Our emergency preparedness page walks through the basics, and the printable emergency sheet is a good place to write down the alternate route while you’re thinking of it.

Buttermilk Falls Road residents also had a front-row seat to July’s heavy rains, when the falls ran high and brown with runoff. This closure is planned work, not weather, but it’s a reminder that a single crossing can be the only way in or out for a stretch of road.

Quick version

• Road: Buttermilk Falls Road, at the railroad crossing.
• Closes: Sunday, September 20, 7 a.m.
• Reopens: by Tuesday, September 22, 7 a.m.
• Who gets through: nobody, including emergency vehicles.
• Questions: Town Hall, 518-753-6915.

Source: closure alert posted on the Town of Schaghticoke homepage, townofschaghticoke.gov, checked September 18, 2026. The alert did not identify the railroad or the contractor. We’ll update if the town posts more.