Interstate 90 in New York
| I-90 | |||
| Get started | Ripley | ||
| End | canaan | ||
| Length | 386 mi | ||
| Length | 621 km | ||
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Interstate 90 or I -90 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New York. The highway provides an east-west connection along most major towns in Upstate New York. Large portions of the route are a toll road, and the road is called New York State Thruway because Interstate 90 crosses the entire state. It passes by the major conurbations of Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, and also by the state capital, Albany. Exit numbering runs within New York Statein the “wrong” direction, namely west, while the rest of Interstate 90 heads east. Exit numbering in New York is sequential and not distance-based. The New York State Thruway continues south to New York City, and is the longest toll road in the United States at nearly 800 miles. The Interstate 90 section in the state is 621 kilometers long.
Travel directions
Lake Erie & Buffalo
Interstate 90 in Pennsylvania merges into New York State just west of Ripley, running parallel and fairly close to the shore of Lake Erie. Just past the first exit comes the toll plaza, which consists of only 3 toll booths in each direction, as the route is fairly quiet here. The New York State Thruwayhas 2×2 lanes here and has a wide median strip. The toll system is closed, which means that you get a ticket when you drive up, and you have to pay again when you drive off. The exits are widely spaced, typical of a toll road. The landscape consists of an alternation of forests and hills with few major differences in height. The highway sometimes runs less than a mile from Lake Erie. You pass a few small towns and villages, and the highway parallels US 20. At the height of Hamburg one enters the urban area of Buffalo.
According to Topschoolsintheusa, Buffalo is a large city with a population of 290,000 and 1.2 million in the metropolitan area of Niagara Falls. At the interchange with US 219, a highway to Springville in the south, is the toll plaza. Within Buffalo, the road is toll-free. In Buffalo, the highway has 2×3 lanes. A little further on is a junction with the Aurora Expressway, which leads to the town of the same name. After this, the road widens to 2×4 lanes. A little further on, Interstate turns 190This is the bypass through downtown Buffalo to Niagara Falls. After this junction, the road has 2×3 lanes again, because a lot of commuter traffic goes to the center. At Buffalo Airport one crosses the Kensington Expressway, which leads to the center, and to some eastern suburbs. After this, I-90 turns east, and Interstate 290 continues straight toward Niagara Falls, and Hamilton and Toronto in Canada. Shortly after this interchange is the toll plaza for the second section of the New York Thruway.
Upstate New York
I-90 in Upstate New York.
The interchange between I-88 and I-90 near Rotterdam.
Upstate New York is a term for the part of the state that is not part of New York City or its suburbs. Interstate 90 and the New York State Thruway are the main access routes. Interstate 90 runs due east. The highway has 2×2 lanes immediately after Buffalo. The landscape here also alternates between forests and meadows, and there are no major differences in height. The first town on the route is Batavia. East of Batavia, Interstate 490 exits and leads to the large city of Rochester which is just north of I-90. The agglomeration has more than a million inhabitants. Interstate 90 passes through the southernmost suburbs. On the south side one also crosses Interstate 390, which leads to downtown Rochester, and to Elmira to the south. I-390 is quite a long way for a route that has 3 digits. I-490 terminates again on the east side of Rochester.
South of Interstate 90 are the so-called “Finger Lakes”, eleven large elongated lakes that are a major tourist destination. The highway passes quite close to some of them, near the towns of Canandaigua, Geneva and Seneca Falls. The next major city is Syracuse, with a population of 150,000, quite a large conurbation with 750,000 inhabitants. On the west side, Interstate 690 exits, which leads to downtown Syracuse. Interstate 90 runs through the north side of Syracuse. In the city is Lake Onandaga, I-90 runs right past it. On the north side of the city, one crosses Interstate 81, which runs to Watertown and Montreal in Canada, and leads south to Binghamton and Scranton in Pennsylvania. One passes south of the Syracuse airport, and one crosses Interstate 481, Syracuse’s eastern bypass.
After leaving the city, the highway runs right past the large Oneida Lake. The landscape still consists of an alternation of forests and meadows. The highway runs south of Rome, a regional town, and passes Utica, a somewhat larger town with 60,000 inhabitants. It also crosses Interstate 790, which leads to downtown Utica. North of I-90 is the immense Adirondack Park, the largest park in the United States, which quickly takes half a day to drive through. Just east of Utica, the Mohawk River parallels the highway.
The next larger city is Schenectady with 60,000 inhabitants, with suburbs like Rotterdam and part of the larger conurbation with Albany. On the north side of town, Interstate 890 exits, which cuts right through Schenectady. A little further on, Interstate 88 ends at I-90, this highway comes from Binghamton. Interstate 890 ends again on the south side of Schenectady. The highway has 2×3 lanes here. The next city is New York’s capital, Albany. It crosses Interstate 87, the highway between New York City and Montreal. Albany has 90,000 inhabitants, and more than a million in the agglomeration with Schenectady. Crossing Interstate 787. via a 4-level stack interchange, a regional north-south highway. Then you cross the Hudson River. East of Albany the road is more hilly and wooded. After this one crosses the Berkshire Spur, the connection between I-87 and I-90 south of Albany. At East Chatham one crosses the Taconic State Parkway, a scenic highway to New York. Further to the Massachusetts border it gets a bit more hilly, with some ridges. Interstate 90 continues in Massachusetts at Canaan.
History
I-90 near Amsterdam.
The highway follows some older trade routes dating back to the 18th century. The highway was planned as part of a toll system in 1938. The route changed from time to time, but in 1942 the route was established by the New York State government. Construction started in 1946 but was initially very slow, in 1950 only 6 kilometers had been opened. After it was decided that the road should become a toll road, construction accelerated, especially after 1954. The highway was completed between Buffalo and Albany in 1954, to New York City in 1956 ( Interstate 87 ).), to Pennsylvania in 1957, and to Massachusetts in 1959. The toll-free section through Albany was constructed later. The route through Albany was completed in 1968 with the opening of the bridge over the Hudson River, but it wasn’t until 1977 before the highway joined the Berkshire Connector, a stretch of the New York Thruway between I-87 and the border with Massachusetts. I-90 crosses part of it east of US 9 to the Massachusetts border.
Opening history
| From | Unpleasant | Length | Opening |
| exit 33 | exit 46 | 185 km | 24-06-1954 |
| exit 46 | exit 53 | 101 km | 25-08-1954 |
| exit 32 | exit 33 | 8 km | 20-09-1954 |
| Exit 24 | exit 32 | 153 km | 26-10-1954 |
| exit 58 | exit 61 | 66 km | 21-08-1957 |
| exit 53 | exit 58 | 47 km | 14-12-1957 |
| Exit B1 | Exit B3 | 27 km | 08-10-1958 |
| Exit B0 | Exit B1 | 10 km | 26-05-1959 |
| Exit 24 | Exit 5 | 6 km | ~1965 |
| Exit 5 | Exit 7 | 5 km | 1968 |
| Exit 7 | Exit 9 | 5 km | ~1972 |
| Exit 9 | Exit 11 | 8 km | ~1974 |
| Exit 11 | Exit B1 | 10 km | ~1977 |
Traffic intensities
The cloverleaf between I-90 and NY-33 in Buffalo.
I-90 handles 18,000 vehicles at the Pennsylvania border, slowly increasing to 30,000 vehicles south of Buffalo. In Buffalo, 127,000 vehicles drive south of the I-190 interchange and 131,000 vehicles south of I-290. There are 49,000 vehicles east of Buffalo, dropping to 37,000 vehicles west of I-490 to Rochester and 27,000 to 30,000 vehicles south of Rochester. East of Rochester, 55,000 vehicles passed I-490 and 32,000 to 33,000 vehicles continued as far as Syracuse.
Up to 35,000 vehicles and 22,000 to 27,000 vehicles pass through Syracuse as far as Utica. Between Utica and Amsterdam, 21,000 vehicles and 28,000 vehicles drove north of I-88 at Schenectady. This increases to 42,000 vehicles after the interchange with I-88 and 75,000 vehicles west of I-87 for Albany. The section through Albany has 105,000 to 118,000 vehicles, plummeting to 21,000 vehicles south of Albany. The easternmost section between the Berkshire Connector and the Taconic State Parkway has 25,000 vehicles, dropping to 22,000 on the Massachusetts border.
Toll
Virtually the entirety of I-90 is a toll road, the New York State Thruway.
In 2018-2020, the New York State Thruway has transitioned to fully electronic toll collection. As of November 13, 2020, the Thruway has completely switched to electronic toll collection.
