Traffic Alert: Congestion Expected Due To Annual Grand Rebbes Memorial

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — A memorial service will require extra planning for drivers today.

The Town of Ramapo announced that there will be unusually heavy traffic on Route 306, between Viola Rd. and Grandview Ave., all day Wednesday. This is due to the annual memorial services for Grand Rebbes at the Viznitz Cemetery. Tens of thousand of men are expected to line Viola Rd. and walk or take buses to the cemetery.

The town advised that drivers use caution and try to avoid the area. Brick Church Rd. will be closed from Route 306 to Ivy Ln., from noon - 10 p.m. Transportation of Rockland (TOR) routes are expected to experience delays and detours as well.

In addition, the East Ramapo Central School District announced that all East Ramapo schools will dismiss early on Wednesday.

• Spring Valley HS and Ramapo HS will dismiss at 11:30 a.m.
• All ERCSD elementary schools and Kakiat S.T.E.A.M. Academy will dismiss at 12:20 p.m.
• Chestnut Ridge and Pomona middle schools will dismiss at 1:20 p.m.

Students will be arriving at their bus stops about two hours earlier than normal and will be provided with lunch prior to dismissal. All afterschool activities and sports have been canceled for the day.

Rockland Community College announced that it would be closing its main campus in Suffern at 11 a.m. All students and non-essential faculty and staff are advised to leave the campus by 11 a.m. and will not be required to work remotely. Classes in Nyack, Orangeburg and Haverstraw extension sites will not be affected. Remote classes will also continue as scheduled.

The annual memorial event, which draws tens of thousands each year, observes the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Chaim Zanvil Abramowitz, known as the Ribnitzer Rebbe. Abramowitz died in October of 1995, in Monsey. He is buried in the Viznitz Cemetery in Spring Valley.