Talk:New York State Thruway

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I changed freeway to expressway, though I'm not even sure that that's the best term. You don't hear the term freeway much in New York -- and its definitely not free to drive on. The term expressway seems to be limied to certain urban areas. I'd always considered the Thruway as a limited-access or interstate highway with tolls. The Expressway article does link to Freeway which discusses differences in terminology. Nonenmac 18:38, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

After discussing this with some other Thruway users and reading related Wikipedia articles, I changed expressway to highway which is more general and seems to fit. Nonenmac 21:24, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Exit list

Exits are numbered from New York City north to Albany (I-87) and then west through Buffalo to Pennsylvania (I-90).

Mile[1] # Destinations Notes
1 Hall Place; McLean Avenue
2 Yonkers Avenue - Raceway northbound exit and southbound entrance
3 Mile Square Road southbound exit is combined with exit 4
4 Cross County Parkway
5 NY Route 100 - Central Park Avenue; White Plains northbound exit and southbound entrance
6 Tuckahoe Road - Bronxville; Yonkers split into 6E (east) and 6W (west) southbound
6A Stew Leonard Drive
barrier toll
7 NY Route 9A - Ardsley northbound exit and southbound entrance
7A Saw Mill River Parkway north; Taconic State Parkway northbound exit only
7A Saw Mill River Parkway south southbound exit and northbound entrance
8A NY Route 119 - Saw Mill Parkway north; Elmsford northbound exit is combined with exit 8
8 Interstate 287 east - Cross Westchester Expressway; White Plains; Rye I-287 joins northbound and leaves southbound
9 U.S. Route 9 - Tarrytown
10 U.S. Route 9W - Nyack; South Nyack no southbound exit
11 U.S. Route 9W - Nyack; South Nyack (NY Route 59)
12 NY Route 303 - West Nyack
13 Palisades Parkway - Bear Mountain; New Jersey split into 13N (north) and 13S (south)
14 NY Route 59 - Spring Valley; Nanuet
14A Garden State Parkway - New Jersey
14B Airmont Road - Montebello; Airmont
15 Interstate 287 south; Route 17 south - New Jersey I-287 joins southbound and leaves northbound; NY 17 joins northbound and leaves southbound
15A NY Route 17 north; NY Route 59 - Sloatsburg; Suffern NY 17 joins southbound and leaves northbound
16 U.S. Route 6; NY Route 17 - Harriman (future Interstate 86)
17 NY Route 17K; NY Route 300; Interstate 84 - Middletown; Newburgh; Stewart Airport
18 NY Route 299 - New Paltz; Poughkeepsie
19 NY Route 28 - Kingston; Rhinecliff Bridge (Interstate 587)
20 NY Route 32 - Saugerties; Woodstock
21 NY Route 23 - Catskill
21B U.S. Route 9W to NY Route 81 - Coxsackie
21A to Interstate 90 east; to Massachusetts Turnpike - Boston, MA (Berkshire Connector)
22 NY Route 396; NY Route 144 - Selkirk
23 Interstate 787; U.S. Route 9W - Albany; Troy; Rensselaer
24 Interstate 87 north; Interstate 90 east - Albany; Montreal, QC I-87 joins southbound and leaves northbound; I-90 joins westbound and leaves eastbound

[edit] Major junctions

I was planning on taking care of this issue when I cleaned up the article as a whole at some point, but we can definitely take care of it now. Here's what I would do: simply toss the I-90 and I-87 spurs (how can a spur be a major junction for its parent route?). I-390 could be an exception, as it does not terminate at I-90, continuing south from Rochester to I-86/NY 17. That will cut it down to seven junctions. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 00:15, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree but I'd keep the I-87/I-90 Junction. That'll make eight, thats fine. Jgcarter 00:22, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
I counted the I-87/I-90 junction in Albany in my list but I forgot about the GSP (oops). Here are the junctions I intended on keeping:
  • NY 400 in Buffalo
  • I-390 in Henrietta (near Rochester)
  • I-81 in Syracuse
  • I-88 near Schenectady
  • I-87/I-90 in Albany
  • I-84 in Newburgh
  • NY 17 in Harriman
  • GSP in Ramapo
--TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 00:59, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
Hmmm, sounds good what what about the Palisades Interstate Parkway or the Mass Pike? Jgcarter 01:02, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
I'd say yes to the PIP but no to the Mass Pike. As you know, the Mass Pike connects to the Berkshire Connector, not the mainline. Now, I don't have an issue with adding the Mass Pike but if we add it, then someone could conceivably add the Queen Elizabeth Way in Buffalo, where it connects to Thruway I-190. So, my reasoning is that we should limit the junctions in the infobox to those on the mainline. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 01:07, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
Oh right...I forgot. Beides, access is also provided at the 87-90 junction anyway, right? So yeah to the PIP, no to the Mass Pike. Jgcarter 01:33, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Redesign

I'm working on a redesign of this page at User:TwinsMetsFan/New York State Thruway. Comments/suggestions are appreciated. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 01:39, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Very nice! Jgcarter 01:55, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
Status report: all of the "Notes" section has been incorporated into other sections of the article and the Route description has been expanded to include all parts of the Thruway system. All that remains is to rework the mainline exit list (on my page) and the I-287 and I-95 exit lists (on their pages) and, once that's done, the article should be ready to move over. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 04:53, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
Great work there. I just have one minor nit. The New England Thruway is not toll-free, although it is tolled northbound only. Also, wouldn't it be better to link to New England Thruway rather than Interstate 95 in New York? Other than this it looks good to go. --Polaron | Talk 05:02, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the report and the compliments. I will fix the statement regarding tolls on the NET to (hopefully) be more accurate. As for the New England Thruway, I would've linked there had I known the article existed. Now that I'm aware of its existence, I'll clean that article up instead of I-95 in NY. Speaking of which, an article probably exists for most (if not all) segments of I-95 in NY (including the Cross-Bronx Expressway and the Bruckner Expressway), so I'll begin cleaning those up as well and start outsourcing overly specific information from I-95 in NY to the appropriate article. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 21:03, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
One bit of critique; you seem to alternate between "Main Article: XXX" and "More Information: XXX". Otherwise, Im VERY impressed!!!! Jgcarter 21:11, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
OK, I've attempted to rectify the concerns above, both regarding the NET and the main article links. As always, comments/questions are welcome. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 02:51, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Oh, and one more thing: The Thruway runs northwest/southeast. You list it as just east/west. Perhaps you should list it more accurate in the infobox. Dont mean to be nitpicking ;o) Jgcarter 03:26, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
I'm not a big fan of listing the Thruway's orientation as northwest/southeast, nor am I a fan of making it purely west/east. The problem lies within the shape of the mainline, which runs east-west for a much longer distance than it does north-south. The best option would probably be to say west/south for the orientation. This has been done in the past for NY 17, which has an even less-pronounced north-south section. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 03:41, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Content has been merged. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 15:08, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I dont get it

I'm trying to understand how I-84 is part of the NY State Thruway.. -- Johnny Albert 13:05, 16 Febraury 2007 (UTC)

NYSDOT transferred maintenance of I-84 over to the NYSTA in 1991 for maintenance reasons.[1] The process to return I-84 to the DOT began with the removal of the tolls on I-190 in Buffalo in 2006. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 21:28, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Ohh. Okay i sort of get it. -- Johnny Albert 22:24, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I-84 is not part of what is commonly referred to as the thruway. However, itis maintained by the thruway authority. Smartyshoe 12:47, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Picture of route 17 shield in infobox

Why is the picture of route 17 shield in the infobox? 17 is not maintained by the thruway authority. So, why is it pictured? Smartyshoe 23:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Probably because of the short overlap at Suffern. I don't think any of those shields, except the Thruway logo, should be there. --NE2 13:52, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
But, NY 52 overlaps the Interstate 84 portion of the Thruway and it doesn't have a shield there. I think that only roads designated as thruway maintained roads (as opposed to roads that just overlap thruway-maintained roads) should be in the infobox. Smartyshoe 13:57, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
Not sure who added those shields in the first place. Agreed, only the Thruway shield should be there, and this is an issue on a number of toll roads in the northeast. About the only one that doesn't have extra shields is the New Jersey Turnpike. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 15:08, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
Once again, the only one I have a problem with is 17. If the road is maintained by the thruway authority, I think it is fine. But if we keep 17, we'll have to add several other roads that are overlapping thruway-maintained roads. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Smartyshoe (talk • contribs) 15:26, August 21, 2007 (UTC).

Maybe we should split New York State Thruway and New York State Thruway Authority. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I-84 is officially part of the Thruway; it's a road maintained by the Thruway Authority. If that is wrong, maybe this should be moved to New York State Thruway mainline with the NYSTA information split out; the only spurs that are currently part of this article are the GSP Connector (which is also covered in Garden State Parkway) and the Berkshire Connector. --NE2 16:19, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

It might be easier just to add a blurb about 84, with a link to the main article, and the same for I-190. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Smartyshoe (talk • contribs) 16:20, August 21, 2007 (UTC).
But is I-84, strictly speaking, part of the Thruway or only part of the Thruway system? --NE2 16:23, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
Disagree with any potential split of the kind. Otherwise, that would cause complications for other similar toll road systems such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Besides, if I read the events of October 2006 correctly, I-84 will no longer be under NYSTA control/maintenance by the end of this year. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 16:31, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't see how it would cause complications, any more than splitting Virginia Department of Transportation from state highways in Virginia. Note that the NYSTA also includes the New York State Canal Corporation. --NE2 16:46, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
The way I read it, it seemed like you wanted to split portions of the system into their own articles, not what you implied with your last statement. I have no problems with splitting NYSTA to its own article, provided a quality article can be made of it. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 16:53, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Well it looks like officially I-84 is part of both the "Thruway system" and the Thruway itself: [2] So any article titled New York State Thruway should cover the entire system, using template:main for the branches. It might still make sense to split off NYSTA into an article that discusses its organization and politics. --NE2 16:49, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] history + natives

Shouldn't there be some mention in the history of the Iroquois like shutting the highway down for a day and setting it on fire and all that in the early nineties when Pataki tried to levy taxes on their reservations? I remember that was a pretty big deal way back. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.148.118.190 (talk) 02:28, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History relating to sections

But these were already open - how does this work?

535 miles closely matches the current system except for the GSP connection and the mainline south of Suffern. By 1960 it was 559 miles, which closely matches the current length.

--NE2 01:38, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Direction

I was wondering if someone could tell me why this article decided to start from the west and go east (and then south from Albany) when describing the route. I've noticed most articles do that, but in NY (as opposed to most other states) routes are not mile marked from west-east. The Thruway is numbered from the city of NY north to Albany and continued west to the PA line. To say that this article should be like all the others and go west to east because everyone else does ignores the uniqueness of NY roads/highways (like the fact that the Thruway is one of a very few interstates built prior to the interstate system and with no help from the federal gov't which paid 90% of interstate building in other states). Also I didn't happen to notice anything in the article about the Thruway having blue exit signs and that it was originally conceived that all interstates would have the same blue signs to match NY's but then green won out at the last minute (the head of the Thruway was color-blind and didn't notice the difference anyway) and much later the thruway changed to conform. Camelbinky (talk) 09:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The comment about all NY routes not being milemarked from west to east is incorrect; the NYSDOT traffic counts log all routes from west to east and south to north. But this has no bearing on the Thruway, which is not a NYSDOT entity. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 21:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Interstate designations

The second two paragraphs in the article--on Interstate highway designations--are well written, but is there a better place for them than the lead? Could a separate section be created for them? Skiasaurus (talk) 18:47, 11 April 2008 (UTC)