Updated 05/12/2008 07:18 AM
Verizon gets approval for new Adirondack cell tower
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) - Verizon Wireless has permission to build a fourth cell-phone tower along the Adirondack Northway as part of its plan to fill a service gap along remote stretches of the upstate New York interstate.
The Adirondack Park Agency says Verizon can build the 94-foot tower - which will be disguised to look like a pine tree - at Schroon Falls, about 100 miles north of Albany. That's on the southern edge of a 47-mile so-called "dark zone" on the Northway.
Verizon started adding towers to the Northway after a Brooklyn man crashed and froze to death in January 2007, unable to call for help.
The death prompted a public outcry, and state officials, environmentalists and the New York-based phone company forged an agreement to add towers that blend into the landscape.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.