NY Thruway Exit 44-45 history

[lstone19]

A discussion in another topic ended up with me taking a look at the Thruway between Exits 44 (Canadaigua) and 45 (Victor/I-490). Official history says the first section of the Thruway opened in 1954. But looking at the Exit 44-45 segment in Historic Aerials, it's there with traffic in 1951. Just between 44 and 45 (no construction yet east of 44 but with construction west of 45). I guess with just those few miles, they weren't calling it the Thruway yet and there's nothing to suggest any sort of toll collection but it's clearly the roadway that will become the Thruway (but without the WB service area). But no mention of it in any Thruway history I could find.

But what's really interesting (and what got me looking at it) was that the original Interchange 45 in 1951 was a 3/4 cloverleaf with NY 96 (no ramps in the SE quadrant). The next aerial photo is 1969 by which point it's today's 45 with I-490. But the topo maps at Historic Aerials show it as still the 3/4 cloverleaf in 1966. Which leads me to wonder how they handled toll collection there? There's no evidence of C/D roadways so a plaza on each pair of ramps where they ran next to each other? Meaning three plazas there (and I always thought the split Exit 20 was weird)? I almost certainly rode through there as a boy of 7 or 8 in 1965 or 1966 but sadly, don't recall it at all.

[ARMOURERERIC]

There was a good history of the NY Thruway on the web, essentially construction began as a free road, and this was one of the first segments to open.  I never drove Henrietta to Victor, but apparently the 2 or 3 bridges west of Victor we're build in an old school arch design and have since been replaced.

[Alps]

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

[lstone19]

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

Agreed but the picture is clearly pre-1954. Everything I've read puts the first opening in 1954 from Utica to Rochester. Yet in this picture, there is open road west of Canandaigua and not even a hint of construction east of where exit 44 is.


iPad

[vdeane]

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

Agreed but the picture is clearly pre-1954. Everything I've read puts the first opening in 1954 from Utica to Rochester. Yet in this picture, there is open road west of Canandaigua and not even a hint of construction east of where exit 44 is.


iPad

He was referring to their topo maps, which are often inaccurate.

As for the original history:
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week12.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428210729/http://www.upstatenyroads.com/thruway-history1.shtml

[lstone19]

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

Agreed but the picture is clearly pre-1954. Everything I've read puts the first opening in 1954 from Utica to Rochester. Yet in this picture, there is open road west of Canandaigua and not even a hint of construction east of where exit 44 is.


iPad

He was referring to their topo maps, which are often inaccurate.

As for the original history:
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week12.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428210729/http://www.upstatenyroads.com/thruway-history1.shtml

I realized after posting that it was probably the topo maps with bad dates.

Anyway, thanks for the links. Didn't realize so much of the Thruway opened well before the official opening date - six years for the 44 to 45 section.


iPad

[webny99]

The 44-45 section is also noteworthy for being the only 6-lane section of the Thruway in over 250 miles between Williamsville and the Albany area. I always loved it as a kid. It was my first introduction to 6 lanes with a lot of truck, long haul and vacation traffic, a type of highway I've always been fascinated with and wish NY state had more of.

[lstone19]

The 44-45 section is also noteworthy for being the only 6-lane section of the Thruway in over 250 miles between Williamsville and the Albany area. I always loved it as a kid. It was my first introduction to 6 lanes with a lot of truck, long haul and vacation traffic, a type of highway I've always been fascinated with and wish NY state had more of.

I have no idea what the traffic numbers are but considering how both 44 and 45 have roads that end at those interchanges (NY332 and I-490 respectively) dumping into that section, the traffic count for 44 to 45 has to be higher than east of 44 and west of 45. Presumably, the Thruway determined that traffic in that stretch is high enough to justify the addition lane.

[webny99]

The 44-45 section is also noteworthy for being the only 6-lane section of the Thruway in over 250 miles between Williamsville and the Albany area. I always loved it as a kid. It was my first introduction to 6 lanes with a lot of truck, long haul and vacation traffic, a type of highway I've always been fascinated with and wish NY state had more of.

I have no idea what the traffic numbers are but considering how both 44 and 45 have roads that end at those interchanges (NY332 and I-490 respectively) dumping into that section, the traffic count for 44 to 45 has to be higher than east of 44 and west of 45. Presumably, the Thruway determined that traffic in that stretch is high enough to justify the addition lane.

Yep, that extra lane is definitely justified. Volumes (pre-COVID) are around 60K per day between 44 and 45. That drops off significantly in both directions, to 43K east of NY 332 and 32K west of I-490. Heading west it's close to a 50/50 split between staying on the Thruway or getting off on I-490. If anything I-490 is the heavier movement, especially during peak travel times, when it sometimes feels like everyone on the road is merging into the exit lane.

NY traffic data can be found here: https://gis.dot.ny.gov/html5viewer/?viewer=tdv

[baugh17]

Yep, that extra lane is definitely justified. Volumes (pre-COVID) are around 60K per day between 44 and 45. That drops off significantly in both directions, to 43K east of NY 332 and 32K west of I-490. Heading west it's close to a 50/50 split between staying on the Thruway or getting off on I-490. If anything I-490 is the heavier movement, especially during peak travel times, when it sometimes feels like everyone on the road is merging into the exit lane.

NY traffic data can be found here: https://gis.dot.ny.gov/html5viewer/?viewer=tdv

Traffic counts were high between Rochester and Canandaigua since the 1980s.  Unfortunately, nothing really got done until the mid 1990s, starting with the widening of the Thruway and the NY 332/NY 96 intersection (The rest of NY 332 would start being widened at the end of the decade).

[vdeane]

It's amazing how much that area has changed.  I remember when NY 332 was a two lane road through farm country.  Now there's still some farm left, but not nearly as much, and it seems like there's more development every single year.

[webny99]

It's amazing how much that area has changed.  I remember when NY 332 was a two lane road through farm country.  Now there's still some farm left, but not nearly as much, and it seems like there's more development every single year.

Yeah, this is the only section that truly feels rural anymore. The rest pretty much feels like any other suburban arterial.. with the slowpokes in both lanes and poorly-timed signals to boot! It has become the Finger Lakes equivalent of TN 66 approaching the Smoky Mountains.

[froggie]

poorly-timed signals

New York as a whole...

[webny99]

poorly-timed signals

New York as a whole...

Generally agree, but it depends. Many roads are terrible, especially in rural areas (and the bigger the spacing, the worse it gets...), but some suburban arterials are scarily well timed, like NY 286.

[Rothman]

poorly-timed signals

New York as a whole...

Generally agree, but it depends. Many roads are terrible, especially in rural areas (and the bigger the spacing, the worse it gets...), but some suburban arterials are scarily well timed, like NY 286.

CDTC promised signal synchronization on Central Ave/State St between Albany and Schenectady about 15 years ago.

Still hasn't happened.

[Michael]

There was a good history of the NY Thruway on the web, essentially construction began as a free road, and this was one of the first segments to open.  I never drove Henrietta to Victor, but apparently the 2 or 3 bridges west of Victor we're build in an old school arch design and have since been replaced.

I remember seeing one for the first time and thinking it was neat while on the way to Genesee Country Village for my 5th grade field trip in 2001.  I want to say I saw a 4 span one just before I-390 when you see multiple bridges crossing the Thruway in a row, but I can't find anything on historic imagery.  Street View from July of last year shows one still standing at NY 64.

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

I've noticed what I'm pretty sure are old maps that appear after newer maps in the list of dates, and I always wondered if it was a goof.  Another site I use (that doesn't have watermarks to boot!) is the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer.  I would hope that something from the USGS has correct dates.

The 44-45 section is also noteworthy for being the only 6-lane section of the Thruway in over 250 miles between Williamsville and the Albany area. I always loved it as a kid. It was my first introduction to 6 lanes with a lot of truck, long haul and vacation traffic, a type of highway I've always been fascinated with and wish NY state had more of.

I always liked that section because of the transverse tining.  That was both the first concrete road and transverse tined road I was ever on.  We always got off at Exit 44, and I was always disappointed that we didn't go further on the concrete section.  It would have been 2000 or 2001 (definitely by 2001 because of the field trip I mentioned above) that I went past Exit 44 for the first time.

It's amazing how much that area has changed.  I remember when NY 332 was a two lane road through farm country.  Now there's still some farm left, but not nearly as much, and it seems like there's more development every single year.

I don't remember what the two-lane road looked like, but I do remember being on it.  I remember being surprised the first time we went through after construction had started to twin it.  I also remember how much of a mess it was during construction.  I do remember seeing new buildings popping up all the time along NY 332 around the same time.

poorly-timed signals

New York as a whole...

NY 5 on the west side of Syracuse between Erie Blvd and the west city line is timed pretty good, especially at night.

[vdeane]

I always liked that section because of the transverse tining.  That was both the first concrete road and transverse tined road I was ever on.  We always got off at Exit 44, and I was always disappointed that we didn't go further on the concrete section.  It would have been 2000 or 2001 (definitely by 2001 because of the field trip I mentioned above) that I went past Exit 44 for the first time.

It certainly had a unique sound 20-25 years ago... nothing like the other concrete sounds that were around the area.  Now that I think about it, the bridges in Florida sound similar.  Alas, the Thruway has since done a couple projects on the road and it's a lot less interesting than it used to be.

[RobbieL2415]

The stretch from 45-46 was the first portion of the Mainline to be constructed.

[webny99]

The 44-45 section is also noteworthy for being the only 6-lane section of the Thruway in over 250 miles between Williamsville and the Albany area. I always loved it as a kid. It was my first introduction to 6 lanes with a lot of truck, long haul and vacation traffic, a type of highway I've always been fascinated with and wish NY state had more of.

I always liked that section because of the transverse tining.  That was both the first concrete road and transverse tined road I was ever on.  We always got off at Exit 44, and I was always disappointed that we didn't go further on the concrete section.  It would have been 2000 or 2001 (definitely by 2001 because of the field trip I mentioned above) that I went past Exit 44 for the first time.

To my knowledge, the stretch between 44-45 has always been the extent of the concrete section. East of 44 and west of 45 is just regular blacktop. However, there is another concrete section near Syracuse that I believe spans most or all of the 39-40 segment.

[vdeane]

39-40 only became concrete with the reconstruction that happened beginning in 2009 - and as such uses longitudinal grooving.  Here's the previous asphalt.

[baugh17]

It's amazing how much that area has changed.  I remember when NY 332 was a two lane road through farm country.  Now there's still some farm left, but not nearly as much, and it seems like there's more development every single year.

I don't remember what the two-lane road looked like, but I do remember being on it.  I remember being surprised the first time we went through after construction had started to twin it.  I also remember how much of a mess it was during construction.  I do remember seeing new buildings popping up all the time along NY 332 around the same time.

In 1980 (when I moved to the Canandaigua area), NY 332 was your typical two lane, mainly rural, state road from the Canandaigua city line to the Thruway...The only signalized intersection outside of Canandaigua was at NY 96 (I couldn't elaborate more without going off-topic).

[empirestate]

Don't trust the dates on Historic Aerials.

Agreed but the picture is clearly pre-1954. Everything I've read puts the first opening in 1954 from Utica to Rochester. Yet in this picture, there is open road west of Canandaigua and not even a hint of construction east of where exit 44 is.


iPad

He was referring to their topo maps, which are often inaccurate.

As for the original history:
http://www.empirestateroads.com/week/week12.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20170428210729/http://www.upstatenyroads.com/thruway-history1.shtml

Thanks, I knew a had a write-up about this specific location!

As for the dates on topo maps, it's not necessarily that they're inaccurate, but the meaning of dates on USGS topos is a fairly expansive and complex topic; there are many different dates for any given map, especially if it's been through any revision process. The nominal "date on map" may or may not reflect the currency of some specific feature.

Or it's also possible that the referring site just has inaccurate dates listed.