NY - I-90 in Albany and the Berkshire Spur

[Revive 755]

^ Funny, I get 14,650 for the Berkshire Spur via New York's traffic data viewer.

And in regards to any talk to downgrading the Berkshire Spur to a Super 2:

1) It seems that the last time being behind a slow moving vehicle and being unable to pass on a two lane road has been forgotten.

2) It would make the route less usable in case of a major incident on the free section of I-90 or on I-87 between the Spur and I-90.

3) Someone can provide data to prove otherwise, but I recall two lane rural roads start having safety issues at much lower ADT values than their urban counterparts.

[vdeane]

It's worth noting that the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge isn't "free".  There's a 62 cent surcharge automatically built-in to the toll rates on top of the regular per-mile rate.  But it's definitely the route for thru traffic.

To give people an idea, that stretch of highway had an AADT of 12,700 in 2011. The stretches of I-87 immediately north and south of Exit 21A are around 40,000 (+/- 3,000) and Free 90 just west of B1 is around 15,000. Heck, the section of I-90 on the Berkshire Spur is only 23,900, dropping under 22,000 at the Taconic. The only section of the mainline (that I know of) with numbers that low is in Chautauqua and southern Erie Counties. Most of the Thruway system is between 30,000 and 50,000. There is nothing there. It runs through the middle of nowhere and there aren't enough people going to Boston from Upstate New York and Southern Ontario. It's one of the most remote parts of the state that isn't in Adirondack or Catskill Parks. I can't say it's overbuilt because it's the only east-west limited access highway north of I-84 in that part of the country, but part of me says to make the Berkshire Spur west of B1 a super two to save money as there isn't enough traffic to warrant much more.

It still has much more traffic than I-87 in Essex County.  Personally I'd make it an unsigned x87.  I always found it odd that I-90 veered off the Thruway and then got on a little while later since traffic following I-90 has to stop two extra times at toll barriers.

^ Funny, I get 14,650 for the Berkshire Spur via New York's traffic data viewer.

And in regards to any talk to downgrading the Berkshire Spur to a Super 2:

1) It seems that the last time being behind a slow moving vehicle and being unable to pass on a two lane road has been forgotten.

2) It would make the route less usable in case of a major incident on the free section of I-90 or on I-87 between the Spur and I-90.

3) Someone can provide data to prove otherwise, but I recall two lane rural roads start having safety issues at much lower ADT values than their urban counterparts.

There are two stations on that stretch of Thruway; one in Albany County, one in Rensselaer.  Since they likely weren't taken at the same time (or even in the same month/year), they have slightly different AADT values.  I don't know when either was last counted, but the Albany County one is scheduled to be counted this year.  The displayed numbers on the map are actually numbers forecast to 2012 (the most recent year of reports available in the viewer); you have to view the hourly report to get the "real" numbers.  Most stations are counted on a three year cycle; local bridges and railroad crossings every five, and ramps every six.

[cl94]

What would even be the point of making it an unsigned I-87x if the section wouldn't get any federal funding due to it being run by a toll authority? Last I checked, NYSTA gets no federal funding, even for the stretches carrying a designation. Three stretches of road have no Interstate designation, totalling less than 15 miles out of the nearly 600-mile system. I-478 exists because it was supposed to be more than a tunnel under the East River. If it's just going to be signed as "To 87/90", why change the designation? Is the Berkshire Spur great to have as an alternate? Certainly. But in no way is it the road most travelled. The majority of traffic bound for Albany and points west takes the free route. I've timed the difference. There is none, mainly because Free 90 never sticks to the speed limit.

[xcellntbuy]

"I always found it odd that I-90 veered off the Thruway and then got on a little while later since traffic following I-90 has to stop two extra times at toll barriers."

When I was little (1960s), I remember when the Thruway was signed with both Interstates 87 and 90 from Exits 21A to 24.  The Interstate 90 signs were just added on top of the old big blue signs on black-painted poles.  There was a small part built of what would become the free section of Interstate 90 from Thruway Exit 24 to what is now Interstate 90's Exit 5 at Everett Road, but the highway ended at Everett Road for years.  The huge hills from what is now Exit 5 to Exit 6A (Interstate 787) took a long time to grade, build and have all those tall overpasses constructed.  The surface of all those roads was concrete, too.

[cpzilliacus]

"I always found it odd that I-90 veered off the Thruway and then got on a little while later since traffic following I-90 has to stop two extra times at toll barriers."

When I was little (1960s), I remember when the Thruway was signed with both Interstates 87 and 90 from Exits 21A to 24.  The Interstate 90 signs were just added on top of the old big blue signs on black-painted poles.  There was a small part built of what would become the free section of Interstate 90 from Thruway Exit 24 to what is now Interstate 90's Exit 5 at Everett Road, but the highway ended at Everett Road for years.  The huge hills from what is now Exit 5 to Exit 6A (Interstate 787) took a long time to grade, build and have all those tall overpasses constructed.  The surface of all those roads was concrete, too.

Back in the early 1970's, I recall riding the Berkshire Section of the Thruway, and all of it was posted as I-90.  Obviously this  was long before "free" I-90 was completed.

[xcellntbuy]

"I always found it odd that I-90 veered off the Thruway and then got on a little while later since traffic following I-90 has to stop two extra times at toll barriers."

When I was little (1960s), I remember when the Thruway was signed with both Interstates 87 and 90 from Exits 21A to 24.  The Interstate 90 signs were just added on top of the old big blue signs on black-painted poles.  There was a small part built of what would become the free section of Interstate 90 from Thruway Exit 24 to what is now Interstate 90's Exit 5 at Everett Road, but the highway ended at Everett Road for years.  The huge hills from what is now Exit 5 to Exit 6A (Interstate 787) took a long time to grade, build and have all those tall overpasses constructed.  The surface of all those roads was concrete, too.

Back in the early 1970's, I recall riding the Berkshire Section of the Thruway, and all of it was posted as I-90.  Obviously this  was long before "free" I-90 was completed.

The 20-mile free section was built in many pieces.  The 4-mile section between Exit 9 (US 4) west to a half diamond Exit 7 (Washington Avenue in Rensselaer) opened in 1972 or 1973.  I remember this well, since nearly brand new Speed Limit 65 signs were decreased to the original national speed limit of 50.  Crossing the Patroon Island Bridge westbound ended at a temporary ramp onto NY 32 and North Pearl Street.  There was no Interstate 787 yet.

Another 4-mile section east was then opened in a few years to Exit 10 (Miller Road).  It took a long time to build, since the grading of the one mile hill took so long.  Another mile was opened further east to Exit 11 and the pavement changed from concrete to asphalt.  The final four miles to Exit 12 finally connected to Thruway Exit B1 which used to be an interchange for just US 9.  Not entirely sure of all the dates, but by 1978, the whole 20 miles was open.

[vdeane]

What would even be the point of making it an unsigned I-87x if the section wouldn't get any federal funding due to it being run by a toll authority? Last I checked, NYSTA gets no federal funding, even for the stretches carrying a designation. Three stretches of road have no Interstate designation, totalling less than 15 miles out of the nearly 600-mile system. I-478 exists because it was supposed to be more than a tunnel under the East River. If it's just going to be signed as "To 87/90", why change the designation? Is the Berkshire Spur great to have as an alternate? Certainly. But in no way is it the road most travelled. The majority of traffic bound for Albany and points west takes the free route. I've timed the difference. There is none, mainly because Free 90 never sticks to the speed limit.

Well, if I had my way, our highway systems would be a hierarchy, with each system combined with higher systems being wholly complete and self-sufficient with no gaps.  The interstates, of course, would be on top, followed by US routes, then state, county, and ending with local, and it would be fully possible to do the majority of trips uniformly going to higher systems in the beginning and uniformly going to lower systems in the end like a bell curve.

Plus some of us do follow the speed limit (mostly; I usually do 62 in 55 zones and 72 in 65) because we fear speeding tickets.

[cl94]

Per the 2008 study, 14,500 vehicles cross Castleton on an average day, while 82,000 cross Patroon Island. Heck, they'd probably reduce the amount of traffic on the most congested section of Free I-90 by upgrading US 4 and building an exit at 3rd Avenue Extension to get people to travel on the east side of the Hudson and over to the Bridge to Nowhere. Could you redesignate it as I-487? Probably. But you'd be hard-pressed to get more of the longer-distance traffic to shift to the Thruway without a couple of changes.

Where I grew up in Warren County, I could have theoretically gotten to the Mass Pike using either the Thruway or Free 90. Given how my parents drive like everyone else from Long Island, the time to do either was identical. My parents opted for the free route unless there was something blocking I-90 for that reason. The study mentions that travel time at the speed limit is 2 minutes longer on the free route. For the Thruway to be a good alternative, it would have to be significantly faster than the free highway. If the Thruway raised the speed limit to 70 or 75, you could probably shave off a couple of minutes and entice people to stay on.

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

And then comes the issue of tolls. For a passenger car without E-ZPass, it's $1.65 each way, going up to $11.95 for a full-length tractor trailer. To encourage people to use the Thruway system for travel between Albany and Schodack Landing, NYSTA should set up an arrangement similar to that with I-88. Tolls between Exits 24 and B1 should be free or significantly discounted, so that one going between west of Exit 24 and east of Exit B1 pays little or no toll for the distance between those two exits.

Encouraging people to stay on the Thruway is a good idea to get a few thousand cars out of Albany. Only issue is that the Thruway has to provide comparable services at a similar road usage fee.

[cpzilliacus]

Any agency that doesn't receive Federal funds doesn't have to comply with the MUTCD unless the state government forces them to.

In addition to the abolition of breezewoods, Congress could force every U.S. toll road agency to comply with the MUTCD by making compliance a condition of issuing bonds with interest that is exempt from federal taxation.

[froggie]

3) Someone can provide data to prove otherwise, but I recall two lane rural roads start having safety issues at much lower ADT values than their urban counterparts.

They do, but consider that a controlled-access facility still has a much higher capacity level than your typical two-lane road.

[cl94]

3) Someone can provide data to prove otherwise, but I recall two lane rural roads start having safety issues at much lower ADT values than their urban counterparts.

They do, but consider that a controlled-access facility still has a much higher capacity level than your typical two-lane road.

I was thinking more of a "2+1 road" like those in Europe if they decide to keep the tolls as they are and usage grows as projected. They could also up the usage if they built an interchange with NY 9J, but that's never going to happen.

[vdeane]

Per the 2008 study, 14,500 vehicles cross Castleton on an average day, while 82,000 cross Patroon Island. Heck, they'd probably reduce the amount of traffic on the most congested section of Free I-90 by upgrading US 4 and building an exit at 3rd Avenue Extension to get people to travel on the east side of the Hudson and over to the Bridge to Nowhere. Could you redesignate it as I-487? Probably. But you'd be hard-pressed to get more of the longer-distance traffic to shift to the Thruway without a couple of changes.

Where I grew up in Warren County, I could have theoretically gotten to the Mass Pike using either the Thruway or Free 90. Given how my parents drive like everyone else from Long Island, the time to do either was identical. My parents opted for the free route unless there was something blocking I-90 for that reason. The study mentions that travel time at the speed limit is 2 minutes longer on the free route. For the Thruway to be a good alternative, it would have to be significantly faster than the free highway. If the Thruway raised the speed limit to 70 or 75, you could probably shave off a couple of minutes and entice people to stay on.

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

And then comes the issue of tolls. For a passenger car without E-ZPass, it's $1.65 each way, going up to $11.95 for a full-length tractor trailer. To encourage people to use the Thruway system for travel between Albany and Schodack Landing, NYSTA should set up an arrangement similar to that with I-88. Tolls between Exits 24 and B1 should be free or significantly discounted, so that one going between west of Exit 24 and east of Exit B1 pays little or no toll for the distance between those two exits.

Encouraging people to stay on the Thruway is a good idea to get a few thousand cars out of Albany. Only issue is that the Thruway has to provide comparable services at a similar road usage fee.

Urban freeways tend to have more traffic than rural.  I'd guess that the majority of those 85,000 vehicles are local, especially since 60,000 of them exit before the Thruway.

Obviously growing up in Warren County would give you a much different relationship with the Berkshire Spur than mine.  I grew up in Rochester.  Instead of choosing what point to get on the Thruway, we would already have been driving on the Thruway for 3-4 hours before getting to the decision point.  Plus my parents still don't have E-ZPass, so they're waiting in line at the cash lanes.

Lack of services was never a problem with us.  I've been on two trips involving that road.  One was a family vacation to Boston.  We used only one tank of gas there, and we ate a brown bag lunch at a Thruway parking area.  The other was a high school field trip to Cape Cod.  We stopped for dinner at a Thruway service area and had another break at the Mass Pike.  I presume the bus refuelled at at least one of these stops.

The traffic counts on the rest of the Berkshire spur are not out of line with the rest of the Thruway; they're about the same as I-90 through the Mohawk Valley, in fact.  Looks like about half the vehicles stay on the Berkshire Spur instead of shunpiking, though there's no real way to know how many of the people getting on/off at exit B1 originate/are going to in Albany or points north.

[cl94]

Per the 2008 study, 14,500 vehicles cross Castleton on an average day, while 82,000 cross Patroon Island. Heck, they'd probably reduce the amount of traffic on the most congested section of Free I-90 by upgrading US 4 and building an exit at 3rd Avenue Extension to get people to travel on the east side of the Hudson and over to the Bridge to Nowhere. Could you redesignate it as I-487? Probably. But you'd be hard-pressed to get more of the longer-distance traffic to shift to the Thruway without a couple of changes.

Where I grew up in Warren County, I could have theoretically gotten to the Mass Pike using either the Thruway or Free 90. Given how my parents drive like everyone else from Long Island, the time to do either was identical. My parents opted for the free route unless there was something blocking I-90 for that reason. The study mentions that travel time at the speed limit is 2 minutes longer on the free route. For the Thruway to be a good alternative, it would have to be significantly faster than the free highway. If the Thruway raised the speed limit to 70 or 75, you could probably shave off a couple of minutes and entice people to stay on.

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

And then comes the issue of tolls. For a passenger car without E-ZPass, it's $1.65 each way, going up to $11.95 for a full-length tractor trailer. To encourage people to use the Thruway system for travel between Albany and Schodack Landing, NYSTA should set up an arrangement similar to that with I-88. Tolls between Exits 24 and B1 should be free or significantly discounted, so that one going between west of Exit 24 and east of Exit B1 pays little or no toll for the distance between those two exits.

Encouraging people to stay on the Thruway is a good idea to get a few thousand cars out of Albany. Only issue is that the Thruway has to provide comparable services at a similar road usage fee.

Urban freeways tend to have more traffic than rural.  I'd guess that the majority of those 85,000 vehicles are local, especially since 60,000 of them exit before the Thruway.

Obviously growing up in Warren County would give you a much different relationship with the Berkshire Spur than mine.  I grew up in Rochester.  Instead of choosing what point to get on the Thruway, we would already have been driving on the Thruway for 3-4 hours before getting to the decision point.  Plus my parents still don't have E-ZPass, so they're waiting in line at the cash lanes.

Lack of services was never a problem with us.  I've been on two trips involving that road.  One was a family vacation to Boston.  We used only one tank of gas there, and we ate a brown bag lunch at a Thruway parking area.  The other was a high school field trip to Cape Cod.  We stopped for dinner at a Thruway service area and had another break at the Mass Pike.  I presume the bus refuelled at at least one of these stops.

The traffic counts on the rest of the Berkshire spur are not out of line with the rest of the Thruway; they're about the same as I-90 through the Mohawk Valley, in fact.  Looks like about half the vehicles stay on the Berkshire Spur instead of shunpiking, though there's no real way to know how many of the people getting on/off at exit B1 originate/are going to in Albany or points north.

Most of the traffic on Free I-90 is local, but we could blame that on the terrain and lack of alternate routes. It's a pain to get anywhere on the east side of the river, so everyone crosses over to I-787 and crosses back when they near their destination. NY 5, US 9, and US 20 don't have the capacity for medium-distance trips, so everyone takes the highway.

While the traffic counts on I-87 and NY 912M were not done at the same time, one can assume that the AADT did not vary greatly. Using the inventory values, the Berkshire Spur traffic favors the north by approximately 2 to 1. That puts the amount of non-shunpikers closer to 10,000. We have no clue how many of those exit at 22 or 23. Some of the larger trucking companies cover tolls no matter what, so these trucks stay on the Thruway to avoid Albany. As you stated, there is no statistically accurate way of determining the amount of traffic that travels the length of Free I-90. I will mention, however, that I have been in lines of cars on I-90 where several cars exited in Guilderland and reentered in Schodack Landing.

Many of the long-distance drivers are not vacationers, but business travelers and long-distance truckers. For people who travel often, tolls add up quickly. The issue of cost also rises when services are concerned. Gas is almost always at least a few cents per gallon more on the Thruway and food prices can be 25% higher. The average leisure traveler doesn't care about this, but commercial and business travelers do. An additional 2-3 miles doesn't justify spending significantly more on gas (unless of course, your company provides unlimited amounts of fuel, a rarity in this day and age).

That being said, re-designating the Berkshire Spur will do very little to modify traffic patterns. It's practically the middle leg of the world's largest double trumpet and will continue to be as such. The amount of through traffic on I-90 is under 25,000 at the upper end, and that's assuming every car on I-90 just east of Exit B1 will/has be(en) west of Exit 24 on that same trip.

I'm not opposed to doing a study. I just don't think that anything would change at this point. I bet that several of the people currently using the full length of the Berkshire Spur are using it because Mapquest, Google, or their GPS directs them to. Shunpikers shunpike no matter what unless the toll is removed. You're not going to move several of them onto the toll road even if the Free 90 speed limit is decreased to 40.

[hbelkins]

If you're a through traveler on I-90 between, say, Boston and Syracuse, how much money are you going to save by exiting the Thruway for the free I-90 portion through Albany? Can't be that much, can it?

Let's see -- get off the Thruway, have to endure traffic at the toll booth (even with E-ZPass, you have to slow to 5 mph and if there's a jam-up, you're delayed even more), deal with downtown Albany traffic, get hung up at the toll booth to re-enter the Thruway  -- unless I'm saving a significant chunk of money, I'm staying on the Thruway. Only time I didn't was when I was going for a clinch of I-90 in New York.

[cl94]

If you're a through traveler on I-90 between, say, Boston and Syracuse, how much money are you going to save by exiting the Thruway for the free I-90 portion through Albany? Can't be that much, can it?

Let's see -- get off the Thruway, have to endure traffic at the toll booth (even with E-ZPass, you have to slow to 5 mph and if there's a jam-up, you're delayed even more), deal with downtown Albany traffic, get hung up at the toll booth to re-enter the Thruway  -- unless I'm saving a significant chunk of money, I'm staying on the Thruway. Only time I didn't was when I was going for a clinch of I-90 in New York.

$1.65. The route really depends on the person. Where I currently live, I need to get gas somewhere between Exits 26 and B3 when going to Massachusetts. I mainly take the free route to get cheaper gas and eat lunch somewhere that doesn't charge the Thruway "tax" of sorts. If there was a service area between those exits that wasn't overcrowded Guilderland, I'd probably stop there if the price was comparable. Issue is that gas at Guilderland, for example, is 12 cents more expensive than that at Exit 5 (Everett Rd).

The Thruway certainly has its merits. My personal opinion is that saving a few dollars on gas, tolls, and food is worth an extra couple minutes of travel time. Other people are free to have different ones. Some people swear by shunpiking, others take the Thruway everywhere.

[Duke87]

If there is a time penalty to taking free 90 it isn't anything significant. I will gladly take a route that's basically the same length to save $1.65.

Of course, when I am faced with this decision, usually I am heading north on I-87 afterward, not reentering the Thruway to continue west on I-90. In such cases it's one toll plaza for me either way and getting off at B1 is certainly less hassle than getting off at 24. Meanwhile if I am heading to Syracuse or anywhere west of there it doesn't really make sense for me to be going via Albany so I won't be unless I'm taking a non-interstate route anyway.

[hbelkins]

If there is a time penalty to taking free 90 it isn't anything significant. I will gladly take a route that's basically the same length to save $1.65.

The one time I did it, Albany traffic on I-90 was a cluster foxtrot.

[cl94]

If there is a time penalty to taking free 90 it isn't anything significant. I will gladly take a route that's basically the same length to save $1.65.

The one time I did it, Albany traffic on I-90 was a cluster foxtrot.

There's a one hour window in the peak direction each rush hour where it is a mess. Other than that, it's not bad at all. Traffic tends to move fast.

[vdeane]

For me, the idea of making the Berkshire Spur an interstate is about the completeness of the interstate system, not about modifying traffic patterns.

During the AM rush, Albany traffic isn't bad... it's getting off the Thruway that's the problem then.  During the PM rush, traffic can be so bad that I wish there was a travel ban on non-commuters.  I can always tell when someone is a tourist based on how they behave around the merges (also on whether they use their turn signal at the SPUI).  In general, nobody in their right mind would be caught dead anywhere near I-90 west of the State Campus (Everett Rd on summer Thursdays/Fridays), the Northway anywhere south of the Twin Bridges, or I-787 north of I-90 during the PM rush if they can avoid traveling during that time (unfortunately, even at their worst, these roads still move faster than parallel local roads , encouraging traffic to use them even when horribly congested).

[spooky]

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

There was a service area in both directions on the Berkshire Connector between Exit B1 (Free I-90) and the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson. I remember it from my childhood but also remember it closing during my childhood, so I would guess that it's been closed at least 30 years.  Its location is obvious if you look at an aerial. It looks like the EB area has been re-purposed as something else, while the WB area remains abandoned.

[cl94]

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

There was a service area in both directions on the Berkshire Connector between Exit B1 (Free I-90) and the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson. I remember it from my childhood but also remember it closing during my childhood, so I would guess that it's been closed at least 30 years.  Its location is obvious if you look at an aerial. It looks like the EB area has been re-purposed as something else, while the WB area remains abandoned.

It closed after Free I-90 opened, as all traffic bound for Albany and points north left east of the service area. Stupid placement, especially because a highway connecting Albany with the Berkshire Spur was planned to connect at Exit B1 or B2 since the spur was constructed.

[froggie]

I-180 ID was I-180N.  It is unknown if I-184 was signed as I-180N.

Going back to this part of the conversation...according to newly "discovered" AASHTO route numbering committee minutes (in another thread), I-180 ID was approved by then-AASHO in June, 1970 as I-180.  So, apparently, there was no I-180N....at least according to AASHO committee minutes.

There's precedent for this elsewhere.  In Maryland, back when I-270 was I-70S, what is now the I-270 Spur was I-270.  It was not I-270S.

[machias]

There's also the lack of services along the Thruway between Exits 24 and B1. For one heading west, 67 miles separate the westernmost service area on the Mass Pike and the first service area encountered on the Thruway, located halfway between Exits 26 and 27. The only services easily accessible from the Thruway system are a small gas station at Exit B3. There are services along Free I-90, I-787/US 9W, I-890, and I-88, all of which require a bit of backtracking or a large detour to get back to the Thruway. What they could (and probably should) do is build a service area/welcome center between Exits B1 and B2 for both directions. It's the highest-traveled section of the Berkshire Spur and breaks the drought. Such a location would be 25 miles from the Lee Service Area and give travelers the opportunity to get gas or eat without leaving the system.

There was a service area in both directions on the Berkshire Connector between Exit B1 (Free I-90) and the Castleton Bridge over the Hudson. I remember it from my childhood but also remember it closing during my childhood, so I would guess that it's been closed at least 30 years.  Its location is obvious if you look at an aerial. It looks like the EB area has been re-purposed as something else, while the WB area remains abandoned.

It closed after Free I-90 opened, as all traffic bound for Albany and points north left east of the service area. Stupid placement, especially because a highway connecting Albany with the Berkshire Spur was planned to connect at Exit B1 or B2 since the spur was constructed.

There was talk in the early 1990s of building a new Service Area closer to the the state line.  It was to be a welcome center and would have been called the Berkshire Service Area.  I believe McDonalds was the franchisee on the project. This was to be built in tandem with the proposed Chautauqua Service Area near Ripley, but neither projects came to fruition.

[The Nature Boy]

I'll always give the NY Thurway credit for using Boston as a control city for I-87 South as a way to trick Boston bound traffic into staying on the Thurway:



If you didn't know that I-90 itself terminated in Boston, you would probably just skip free I-90 and follow the signs.

[froggie]

Possibly...but in my experience, a large number of through trucks will deliberately stay on the Thruway and follow the Spur and vice versa, as the two toll plazas plus the descent/hill climb in the river valley will all slow them down.