I-86 Current Progress

[jemacedo9]

I just drove the Elmira-Lowman stretch.  West of Lowman, both directions are complete.  Westbound traffic is using both lanes, eastbound traffic is restricted by barrels to the right lane.  But East of Lowman, it looks like they've removed the old westbound lanes to rebuild from scratch.  Fine grading is complete in some sections,rough grading in others, but no subbase has been placed.

[vdeane]

That's exactly what they're doing.  That's what they did west of Lowman too.  The old median must not be interstate standards or something.

[empirestate]

I've just done a round trip from NYC to Rochester, so here's what I can report on I-86 and associated works:

A new bridge over the Neversink River is taking shape on the north side of NY 17. It's somewhat higher than the existing bridge, so vertical curvature is obviously being corrected here.

At Parksville, work appears to be entirely concluded, save a few straggling details. The old NY 17 alignment is now open at both ends, connecting to CR 176 on the east, and has been fully converted to a single carriageway. There is no pavement remaining of the former dual carriageway, either through the business district or at the former connection to the rerouted mainline, which has also been vacated, and even the grading, though still evident, is not conspicuous. The new parking lot and rail trail connection have been built at the west end of the project.

One surprise to me was that the little stub of CR 176/Parksville Road right in front of the church has been removed; I'd thought from the plans that it would remain, though I don't know why it should. As a result, the church is no longer on a corner.

In Chemung County, work is also substantially complete. The Reeds Crossing interchange is now open, though not signed other than small EXIT signs at the gore. All intersections and driveways have been severed, including those associated with construction activity. As of Friday, there was still one lane closed each direction, through both the east and west segments of the project.

Work is well underway at Kamikaze Curve. New bridge piers are starting to rise in the Chenango River, and some amount of earth work has been done to the side of Prospect Mountain. There are big orange diagrammatic guide signs associated with new lane restrictions and traffic patterns approaching the area. The construction zone extends west through the Front and Mygatt St. interchanges.

A bit to the east, the NY 17 EB ramp over I-81 is closed for reconstruction. Access is currently via the Exit 2 ramp to US 11, with a temporary signal installed to allow a left turn onto NY 17.

Up at Hale Eddy, there is also work underway, but not for the I-86 upgrade. It seems to be limited to current and recent milling/repaving contracts. Guess they're committed to not starting serious work here for a couple more years.

The bridge deck is being replaced over Fulton St. in South Waverly, PA.

A fair number of other minor projects are evident along the route.

And for non-I-86 related notes:

The I-81/I-481 interchange is having some work done. Currently, lanes are configured so that I-81 SB is two lanes thru to I-481 NB. Continuing on I-81 SB is a one-lane exit off of itself.

Pavement joints have been patched along I-81 in northern Broome County, resulting in an unpleasant stretch of jolting bumps that's impossible to avoid. My neck started to ache from the jostling.

[vdeane]

Did the exit signs happen to have an exit number for Reed's Crossing?

Hale Eddy isn't planned to start reconstruction until 2015.

[empirestate]

Did the exit signs happen to have an exit number for Reed's Crossing?

No they didn't, so I didn't know what to put into OSM when I updated it (which I of course did). I assume it will be 58A? Or will they shift adjacent exit numbers, since both 55 and 57 are available? I think I recall hearing somewhere that that was the plan. Then you'd have Exit 54-NY 13, Exit 55-Church/Water Sts., Exit 56-Lowman, Exit 57-Reed's Crossing, Exit 58-Chemung, Exit 59-Wilawana.

[vdeane]

That would be logical, but this is I-86/NY 17.  Crazy numbering is part of the highway.  I've always assumed 58A.

[WNYroadgeek]

On a side note, with that interchange completed, should we expect to see the I-86 designation extended (to say, NY 201) anytime soon? AFAIK, there isn't anything left to do to bring it up to interstate standards between its' current eastern end (Exit 56) and the Kamikaze Curve.

[empirestate]

The following, from NYSDOT:

This project will upgrade signing in the Binghamton Urban Area as Rte. 17 is converted to Interstate 86, Towns of Kirkwood, Vestal, Village of Johnson City, and City of Binghamton, Broome County.

Follow the link to see the schedule; suffice to say, it's a few years away:
https://www.dot.ny.gov/regional-offices/multi/i-86/projects/signing-binghamton

Also listed as "under development" is an I-86 conversion contract for Tioga County, so presumably there's some upgrading left to be done there. I can't think what it might entail, perhaps some bridge geometry and other minor tweaks.

[vdeane]

Probably replacing the ramps with sharp curves from Nichols to Apalachin.

[empirestate]

Did the exit signs happen to have an exit number for Reed's Crossing?

I can now answer this: the new interchange at Reed's Crossing is Exit 58, and is signed (westbound anyway) for CR 60, Lowman.

The original Lowman interchange is now Exit 57, with supplemental tabs that say "Formerly Exit 58". (It's signed, as always, for CR 2, CR 8, CR 60, Lowman, Wellsburg)

I saw an uncovered I-86 shield between the two Lowman interchanges, and at least one other still covered up. Bridge work east of Exit 59 had the left lane closed, in both directions I believe, so I'd bet that I-86 is set to officially reach the Chemung/Tioga County line before too long.

Elsewhere along the route, at Kamikaze Curve the bridge piers are complete and considerable steel erected for the new WB I-86 ramp over the river. I went through at night, but with the hillside cleared away it was already much more roomy-feeling.

[vdeane]

The I-86 signage essentially goes to exit 59 now... given the lack of applications to AASHTO, I think NY's planning to designate all of I-86 from Elmira to Binghamton (and maybe that portion with covered signs in Orange County?) all at once.

[empirestate]

The I-86 signage essentially goes to exit 59 now... given the lack of applications to AASHTO, I think NY's planning to designate all of I-86 from Elmira to Binghamton (and maybe that portion with covered signs in Orange County?) all at once.

Looks that way; going eastbound today, I saw one uncovered shield between exits 58 and 59, and several more in various states of coveredness, but after Exit 59 it switches back to Future I-86 signage.

Interestingly, it appears from passing by that the ramps at the new Exit 58 have reference markers for "17", not "86I" as you'd expect–they do have 86I on the ramps at Exit 56.

You, or y'all, may also recall there are "99I" reference markers at the north end of US 15. Incidentally I went down to see how the last piece of I-99 in New York is coming, and it certainly is. The southbound bridge over Morgan Creek is pretty well complete, the northbound one slightly less so, but the ones at Watkins Creek are still just girders. The roadbed itself it pretty well along, being substantially complete towards the north end. I even saw the back of a sign for the Presho exit on the new roadway.

I also noticed that in Lawrenceville, PA, they did not bother to designate PA 287 north of PA 49 when it was extended along old US 15. The two blocks between PA 49 and the state line are now part of SR 1015, already assigned to Mechanic Street and other local roads near the borough. Kind of weird, I thought; maybe they liked the number 1015 instead of the 6015 it would normally get (the 6 prefix is used for relocated traffic routes).

[agentsteel53]

any state-named 86 shields?

[vdeane]

Interestingly, it appears from passing by that the ramps at the new Exit 58 have reference markers for "17", not "86I" as you'd expect–they do have 86I on the ramps at Exit 56.

Might have something to do with the way it was paved.  While the section from exits 56 to 57 was in an expanded ROW, I believe the section from exits 57 to 58 was in the existing ROW, and the portion from exits 58 to 59 is mostly untouched from before.

You, or y'all, may also recall there are "99I" reference markers at the north end of US 15. Incidentally I went down to see how the last piece of I-99 in New York is coming, and it certainly is. The southbound bridge over Morgan Creek is pretty well complete, the northbound one slightly less so, but the ones at Watkins Creek are still just girders. The roadbed itself it pretty well along, being substantially complete towards the north end. I even saw the back of a sign for the Presho exit on the new roadway.

For some reason, NYSDOT had the road and bridges done as separate contracts, with the road slated to be completed a whole year before the bridges.

[empirestate]

Interestingly, it appears from passing by that the ramps at the new Exit 58 have reference markers for "17", not "86I" as you'd expect–they do have 86I on the ramps at Exit 56.

Might have something to do with the way it was paved.  While the section from exits 56 to 57 was in an expanded ROW, I believe the section from exits 57 to 58 was in the existing ROW, and the portion from exits 58 to 59 is mostly untouched from before.

Possibly. I think there was some expansion of the ROW from 57 to 58, but not quite as much.

You, or y'all, may also recall there are "99I" reference markers at the north end of US 15. Incidentally I went down to see how the last piece of I-99 in New York is coming, and it certainly is. The southbound bridge over Morgan Creek is pretty well complete, the northbound one slightly less so, but the ones at Watkins Creek are still just girders. The roadbed itself it pretty well along, being substantially complete towards the north end. I even saw the back of a sign for the Presho exit on the new roadway.

For some reason, NYSDOT had the road and bridges done as separate contracts, with the road slated to be completed a whole year before the bridges.

Well, maybe the best bridge guys aren't the same as the best roadway guys. :-)

(Probably has more to do with ensuring that budget shortfalls in one part of the project don't run over into other parts.)

[rickmastfan67]

Looks like I-86 was just recently extended from Exit #56 to just shy of the PA State Line on NY-17.

NYSDOT Announces Federal Approval To Designate Portion Of Route 17 As Interstate 86

Anybody know if they shields have gone up yet?

[empirestate]

Looks like I-86 was just recently extended from Exit #56 to just shy of the PA State Line on NY-17.

NYSDOT Announces Federal Approval To Designate Portion Of Route 17 As Interstate 86

Anybody know if they shields have gone up yet?

Scroll up.

Now, what their coveredness status is at the moment could be anyone's guess.

[hbelkins]

I don't remember offhand what is lacking about the rest of the stretch between Elmira and Binghamton, but it must be something nit-picky to keep the whole thing from being signed as I-86 since the whole stretch is now limited access four-lane freeway.

[empirestate]

I don't remember offhand what is lacking about the rest of the stretch between Elmira and Binghamton, but it must be something nit-picky to keep the whole thing from being signed as I-86 since the whole stretch is now limited access four-lane freeway.

I don't either; I feel it was something like horizontal bridge clearances or the occasional shoulder width being too small. Especially in the Endicott area I can picture some sub-standard geometry perhaps, but for the life of me, Tioga County on the whole seems like it should be no problem to upgrade.

[NJRoadfan]

Any reason why NYSDOT didn't bother to widen Future I-86 when they rebuilt most of it in Orange County? Given the epic backups I have encountered on that stretch of roadway and its usual congestion, I'm surprised they haven't.

[vdeane]

Tioga county has some extremely tight on/off ramps that require lengthened acceleration/deceleration lanes; that project is currently ongoing and will likely finish around the same time as the Binghamton projects.

Also, the designation doesn't quite go to PA... it ends at the Tioga County line.  The order is Chemung, Tioga, PA, Tioga.

[Mapmikey]

I drove a lot of NY 17 on Saturday...

I-86 is posted at the US 220 interchange and everywhere westward.

Signs for I-86 are up and mostly still covered from I-84 west to Sullivan County line and also from a point west of the remaining non-freeway portion to at least NY 8 (where I got off).

Interestingly, there are still  NY 14 reference markers on the east side of Elmira on I-86/NY 17




Mapmikey

[hotdogPi]

I saw "Future 86" twice within about 20 miles. This was east of US 220.

[rickmastfan67]

I drove a lot of NY 17 on Saturday...

I-86 is posted at the US 220 interchange and everywhere westward.

I'll go update OSM based on that info.   Thanks man.

[empirestate]

Signs for I-86 are up and mostly still covered from I-84 west to Sullivan County line and also from a point west of the remaining non-freeway portion to at least NY 8 (where I got off).

That last bit is news to me; so you mean, from around Hancock to at least Deposit there are covered-up shields posted now? I-86 already exists from Windsor to Binghamton as you know.

Interestingly, there are still  NY 14 reference markers on the east side of Elmira on I-86/NY 17

Mm, par for the course. There are still 245 markers on I-390, and I believe the reference markers on I-86 east of Elmira are brand new and still say "17". Usually only in cases of new construction and substantial realignment do you see the marker numbers change. Ultimately, the marker legend identifies a unique point on the state highway system; its identifying functions beyond that are fairly incidental anymore.