Unbuilt I-687 Northside Northway connection

[route17fan]

The project that sent the town of Colonie in to a tizzy, I was able to locate via Babel Hathitrust an Environmental Impact Statement from 1972 (link below); and while not a popular topic for Colonie residents, I found it a fascinating read and thought maybe feedback would be interesting to read - especially with Northway exit 4 work being done.

link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ien.35556030149314;view=1up;seq=5

I-687 has been mentioned sporadically in various threads but nothing centralized.

[froggie]

^ A pity one can't download that without being a member or being associated with a college/university that's a member.  Unfortunately, mine isn't.

[cl94]

^ A pity one can't download that without being a member or being associated with a college/university that's a member.  Unfortunately, mine isn't.

I was able to get it from being an alum of a partner institution. Anyone who wants it can send me a PM and I'll send over a link.

[route17fan]

I have 'downloaded' it - but page by page and saving the page images as JPEGS. 

[Roadsguy]

Interesting how they show I-687 continuing northwest from I-87. What was that meant to connect to? The unbuilt I-88 extension along NY 7?

[froggie]

I-88 as we know it today was not planned as an Interstate at the time.  And I-687 was planned to end at I-87.  The roadway continuing westward would have been a state-level freeway.  The EIS says it would have connected with "Alternate Route 50 near Schenectady."  There is no mention of what route number it might have had west of 87.

[vdeane]

Wasn't Alt 50 all the way over in Scotia?  That seems a long ways, especially given that it would basically be serving the same corridor as I-890 for much of the length.  I always figured it was an airport connector.

[froggie]

^ At least one planning map I came upon in the past (which might have been posted by Doug pre-AARoads-forum) showed a corridor extending through the north side of Scotia and to 890 near the Thruway (Exit 26).

NYSDOT considered it as far more than just an "Airport Connector".  There was also a proposed north-south freeway parallel to and just west of the north-south leg of NY 155 that the Albany-Schenectady Corridor would have tied into.  That north-south freeway would have also extended south of the Thruway to tie into a then-proposed corridor between Exit 25 and the Berkshire Spur.