Interstate 490 (New York)

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Interstate 490
Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System
Maintained by NYSDOT
Length: 37.40 mi[1] (60.19 km)
Formed: 1974 (completion date)[2]
West end: I-90 / Thruway in Le Roy
Major
junctions:
I-390 / NY 390 in Gates
I-590 / NY 590 in Rochester
East end: I-90 / Thruway in Victor
Numbered highways in New York
< NY 488 I-495 >
Interstate - U.S. - N.Y. - Reference

Interstate 490 (abbreviated I-490) is an 37.40-mile interstate highway loop route that serves the City of Rochester in Monroe County, New York. The western terminus is located in the town of Le Roy at Interstate 90 (the New York State Thruway). It interchanges with Interstate 390 and New York State Route 390 on the western side of Rochester and Interstate 590 and New York State Route 590 on the east side of the city (the latter is a complex interchange nickanamed the Can of Worms by locals describing the interchange prior to its reconstruction from 1988 to 1991). I-490 terminates in Victor where it meets back with the New York State Thruway.

I-490 comprises the southernmost portion of the Inner Loop, a beltway around the interior of Rochester. West of the Inner Loop, I-490 is known as the Dutchtown Expressway, a name given to the freeway by the locals to describe the area's original immigrant settlers. East of the Inner Loop, I-490 is known as the Eastern Expressway, a name given to the freeway upon its construction in the former Rochester Subway bed in 1957.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Heading northeast from the Thruway, I-490 passes through rural western Monroe County, skirting the villages of Bergen and Churchville. Gradually, the expressway takes a more easterly alignment near exit 3 before returning to the northeast at exit 4. At exit 6, I-490 intersects the Airport Expressway (NY 204). Past this interchange, I-490 heads due north, interchanging with NY 33 and NY 531 before returning east. Prior to crossing the Erie Canal, I-490 interchanges with NY 390 and I-390 as I-490 enters the city of Rochester.

The Douglass-Anthony Bridge as seen from I-490 westbound
The Douglass-Anthony Bridge as seen from I-490 westbound

Between the Mount Read Blvd. interchange at exit 10 and the Genesee River, I-490 is referred to as the "Western Gateway". This section, which has seen major decorative as well as structural improvements in recent years[3], travels due east through heavily residential neighborhoods before turning to the southeast near Frontier Field and the junction with the Inner Loop at exit 13. I-490 now becomes part of the Inner Loop as it passes just south of the city center and heads toward the Genesee River. I-490 crosses both the river and NY 383 by way of the Frederick Douglass-Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge, then turns south into the former pathway of the Erie Canal and the Rochester Subway through the east side of the city.

Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs

I-490 continues to run in the former bed until exit 21, when I-490 continues east past NY 590 and I-590, the latter of which runs in the former Erie Canal route through the eastern suburbs. Between exits 21 and 24, I-490 parallels the CSX Rochester Subdivision rail line, intersecting NY 441, a limited-access highway in the process. South of exit 25, I-490 runs through the eastern suburbs of Rochester, passing close to East Rochester, Pittsford and Bushnell's Basin before intersecting NY 96 three times and passing Eastview Mall as it approaches its eastern terminus at the Thruway in Ontario County.

[edit] History

The portion of I-490 from exit 9 (I-390/NY 390) in Gates to exit 27 (NY 96) in Perinton was designated the Erie Canal Expressway by the New York State Legislature on August 16, 2005. The name is ceremonial in nature and is not part of the official name of the expressway.[4]

The planned construction of I-490 through downtown Rochester, in the Corn Hill area just west of the Genesee River, was the driving factor for Rochester Institute of Technology to relocate to its present location in Henrietta, NY in the mid to late 1960s. The plan called for the demolition of a number of RIT buildings, and would have resulted in splitting the campus into two halves separated by I-490.

[edit] Exit list

County Location Mile[1] # Destinations Notes
Genesee Le Roy 0.00 I-90 / ThruwayAlbany, Buffalo
0.19 1 NY 19Le Roy, Bergen
3.38 2 NY 33 / NY 33ABergen, Batavia
Monroe Riga
6.35 3 NY 36Churchville
Chili 10.78 4 NY 259North Chili, West Chili
14.09 5 NY 386Chili Center
Gates 15.78 6 NY 204 east – Airport
16.58 7A-B NY 33Gates Center To NY 531 (eastbound)
17.17 8 NY 531 west – Spencerport, Brockport Westbound exit only
19.02 9A-B I-390 / NY 390Greece, Airport
Rochester 20.17 10A-B Mount Read Boulevard Single exit 10 westbound
20.95 11 Ames Street (south), Child Street (north)
21.85 12 Broad Street, Brown Street – Frontier Field Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
22.25 13 Inner Loop CW – Amtrak Station Inner Loop joins eastbound and leaves westbound
22.76 14 Broad Street, Plymouth Avenue – Frontier Field Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
22.94 15 Inner Loop CCW / NY 15 via South Avenue No access to Inner Loop CCW from I-490 west; Inner Loop leaves eastbound and joins westbound
23.42 16 Clinton Avenue – Downtown Rochester Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
23.92 17 Goodman Street To Inner Loop CCW (westbound)
24.37 18 NY 31 (Monroe Avenue)
24.91 19 Culver Road
25.91 20 Winton Road Westbound connection made via University Avenue
Brighton 26.44 21 I-590 / NY 590 Can of Worms
27.03 22 Penfield Road Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; former routing of NY 441
27.82 23 NY 441 (Linden Avenue) – Penfield
Pittsford 29.14 24 East Rochester (NY 940U) No westbound exit
29.55 25 NY 31FFairport To East Rochester (westbound)
32.13 26 NY 31Pittsford, Palmyra
33.76 27 NY 96Bushnell's Basin
35.05 28 NY 96 To Eastview Mall; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Ontario Victor 37.00 29 NY 96Victor To Eastview Mall
37.40 I-90 / ThruwayAlbany, Buffalo

[edit] References