Politics on the Hudson

Highways in Westchester County and the Southern Tier will be named after local veterans and soldiers killed in combat.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he signed 10 bills to name highways across the state after military members.

In Westchester, parts of State Route 120 will be named after two service members who were killed while fighting overseas.

A portion of the road in Harrison will be named Specialist Anthony N. Kalladeen Memorial Highway. Another stretch that crosses the Saw Mill River Parkway in New Castle will be named the Staff Sergeant Kyu Hyuk Chay Memorial Bridge.

Cuomo made the announcement a day before Independence Day. The new names of the highways were adopted by the state Legislature earlier this year.

“As New Yorkers come together to celebrates our country’s birthday, we must pause to honor the countless American heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could live free today,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Kalladeen, 26, of Purchase, was killed in 2005 during the war in Iraq. He was a student at SUNY Purchase. Hyuk Chay was killed in Afghanistan in 2006, and the bridge honoring him overlooks his family’s dry-cleaning business in Chappaqua.

In western New York, the West Third Street Bridge over Steele Street and the Chadakoin River in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, will be named the Jamestown Veterans Memorial Bridge. The bridge is near several offices for veterans’ services.

The Route 76 Bridge crossing Route I-86 in Sherman, Chautauqua County, will be named the Alfred F. Jones Memorial Bridge. Jones, who died in 2009, served in World War II and returned to live in Mayville. He was a former county legislator who advocated for the completion of Route I-86.

In Cuba, Allegany County, Cuomo signed legislation to designate the Route I-86 Bridge crossing Route 305 the Sergeant Mark Bradley Memorial Bridge. A Marine, Bradley served from 2004 and 2011 and had four deployments, including in operation Iraqi Freedom. He died in June 2011 after sustaining injuries from an improvised exploding device in Afghanistan.

Cuomo signed legislation to name a portion of Route 20A in Wyoming County, from State Route 98 to State Route 246, as the Wyoming County Veterans Memorial Highway.

A portion of Route I-390 in Steuben County will be named Sergeant Devin Snyder Memorial Highway. Snyder of Cohocton, Steuben County, died in June 2011 after she was injured in an explosion in Afghanistan. She was the first female soldier from western New York to die in the war, Cuomo’s office said.

“It’s a timely and fitting tribute on this Independence Day to recall the life, service and ultimate sacrifice of one of our local heroes,” Sen. Thomas O’Mara, R-Big Flats, Chemung County, said in a statement. “The ‘Sergeant Devin Snyder Memorial Highway’ will forever honor Devin’s memory and express our enduring gratitude and respect for her service to America.”