Talk:Interstate 90 in New York

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Topics Interstate Highways New York State routes
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Article Improvement Drive Interstate 90 in New York was the New York State routes Article Improvement Drive collaboration for the week spanning from Sunday, December 16, 2007.
For more details, see the New York State routes Article Improvement Drive archive.
To-do list for Interstate 90 in New York: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Infobox
    • Established dates
    • Major junctions (preferably only one per major urban center)
  • Route description
    • Summary style for the Thruway mainline portion and the Berkshire portion
    • Write description for the free 90 portion. Note any major attractions.
  • History
    • What surface route was the expressway designed to replace?
    • What were the considerations for deciding where the final alignment of the expressway was to be built?
    • When was the I-90 designation applied? When was the non-Thruway section built and why? Why wasn't I-90 designated all on the Thruway?
    • Opening dates of the expressway
    • Any major accidents that shut down the expressway for at least a day?
    • Any controversies in the approval and funding?
    • Comparable information for the Thruway portion should only be given as a summary
  • Exit list
    • Needs tweaking

[edit] History notes

  • Planned as early as 1938
  • 1939: appears to have been drawn along US 20, US 20A, NY 5, and US 20
  • ca. 1943: shifted north through Buffalo and Rochester (NY 5, NY 33, and NY 31?)
  • 1947: no major changes
  • 1955: no major changes
  • 1957: number assigned (apparently on the Thruway [1])
  • 1958: mostly drawn along the Thruway, but clearly passes through Albany
  • 1959: further north east of Albany
Cities (1955)
  • Buffalo: Follows the Thruway
  • Rochester: Follows the Thruway
  • Syracuse: Follows the Thruway
  • Utica: Follows the Thruway
  • Schenectady: Follows the Thruway
  • Albany: Follows the Thruway, with a branch on present I-90 west of I-787
    • Relating to this: "The Department of Public Works indicates that the deletions from present Interstate Route 504 would prevent the planned construction with Federal Interstate funds of the portion of Route 504 between Albany and North Chatham on the Berkshire Spur." [2] I'm not sure if this was only a proposed law or if it was actually passed.
Opening dates
  • Before 1972: Thruway to Everett Road
  • Before 1972: I-787 to US 4
  • July 18, 1972: Everett Road to I-787 [3]
  • After 1972: US 4 to Thruway
East of Albany
  • I-90 goes through Albany because it's 30% shorter, though that was apparently a more northerly alignment east of Albany: [4]
    • The other location between Albany, N. Y., and Pittsfield, Mass., is a route 28.9 miles long at an estimated cost of $61.7 million. This route is 30 percent shorter than the toll route and complies with the requirement that interstate routes shall be as direct as possible. This route entails the construction of a bridge over the Hudson River in the city of Albany. The structure for the toll route is the only 4-lane facility on the entire toll system. The toll structure was designed as a 4-lane facility with the full knowledge that a parallel structure would be built 10 miles to the north, and that a 4-lane bridge would satisfy all of the traffic requirements on the toll system. The toll road authority is conducting a study to determine the effect on their revenues of these parallel interstate routes.
  • Also: [5]
    • This is what happened in Massachusetts-New York. Interstate 90, which has now been designated Interstate 90, the toll road going to Boston from the Albany interstate route, was the toll road first built. Subsequently Massachusetts and New York asked for pemission to build a free road from around Pittsfield to Albany. This is contained in the comptroller's report. That was denied on the basis that there was in existence a limited-access toll road that would serve the same traffic corridor adequately under their standards and therefore they turned down the application for construction of the free road.
  • [6]
    • Such a situation existed with respect to a free route of the Interstate System proposed by the States of New York and Massachusetts between Albany, N.Y., and Lee, Mass., which would parallel the New York Berkshire Thruway and a part of the Massachusetts Turnpike, both of which are toll roads, for a distance of approximately 41 miles and on a location varying from 2 to 8 miles north of the toll road. The proposed free section in New York was estimated to cost $61.7 million and the portion in Massachusetts $30.5 million, for a total estimated cost of $92.2 million. The Bureau of Public Roads did not approve the specific location of this proposed free section but insisted that the toll roads, which were determined to be adequate for service of traffic in the area until 1975, should be the location of the interstate highway. The two States ultimately selected the toll roads as the interstate route, and Public Roads has approved the same.
  • 1956 [7]: Lebanon-Lee Link to Bypass Pittsfield: A 15-to-20-million dollar interstate connecting highway from Route 20 on Lebanon Mountain to the Massachusetts Turnpike's Lee interchange through Bousquet's Ski [?] announced at this morning's county highway hearing in the Superior Courtroom.
  • 1957 [8]: relocation US 20
  • In 1957, at the request of the states, the BPR added 2102 miles of toll roads to the Interstate system, including the Masspike from Boston to East Lee ("the entire route except a short section at the west end"). Of course none of the Berkshire Thruway was added.
Other notes
  • "The New York State Thruway was cited today as an outstanding example of construction in conforming to standards of the Federal Interstate Highway System." [9]
  • Exit 24 originally connected to Washington Avenue: [10]
  • [11] may be useful
  • The Feds apparently chose to route I-90 on the Thruway. [12]
  • Interstate Route Connection 541 was I-90: [13]

--NE2 00:47, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bridge dates

  • ? over Thruway north
  • 1986 under Rapp Road
  • 1987 under I-87 south
  • 1986? 1989? under ramp
  • 1959 under Northway
  • 1987 under I-87 north
  • 1968 over Fuller Road
  • 1968 under Campus Connector
  • 1968 under NY 85
  • 1968 over NY 5
  • 1965 under Everett Road
  • 1967 over RR
  • 2004 over Exchange Street
  • 1972 under Corporate Woods Boulevard
  • 1971 under Henry Johnson Boulevard
  • 1972 under US 9
  • 1970 under Loudonville Road
  • 1967 over NY 32
  • 1967 over Broadway
  • 1967-68 over Erie Boulevard
  • 1967-68 over I-787
  • 1968 under I-787 ramps
  • 1968 over Hudson River
  • 1968 under Washington Avenue
  • 1970 over NY 43
  • 1968 over 3rd Avenue
  • 1968 under US 4
  • 1970 over NY 151
  • 1971 over Mill Creek
  • 1972 under Elliot Road
  • 1972 over Greenwood Drive
  • 1971 over Moordener Kill
  • 1972 over Miller Road (NY 912F)
  • 1972 over Moordener Kill
  • 1972 over Kraft Road
  • 1973 under US 9/20
  • 1973 over NY 150
  • 1973 over Moordener Kill
  • 1974 under Maple Hill Road
  • 1974 over Vlockie Kill
  • 1974 over Van Hoesen Road
  • 1974 over Sand Road
  • 1974 over Bame Road
  • 1974 over US 9
  • 1957 over Thruway